Elimination time
by illimitabledreams
Summary: Sasukecentric, NaruSaku, friendship fic or if you want think of it as a slightly onesided SasuNaru. Sasuke returns years after to destroy some bonds...FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS!
1. Chapter 1

Naruto does not belong to me. If it did it wouldn't be so good.

_Konoha. It sure brings memories back. Memories of a long time ago. Memories of a different life. It has been a long time since I have last been here. Ten years to be exact. In this place I've past the worst hours of my life but what is bugging me is that I also lived the greatest ones. However, I'm not here to remember my childhood neither to return in my previous life._

_All those memories are the reason of being here now. The bonds I have with this village and its citizens. I'm here to cut them all because they keep me back. Because they don't leave me alone at nights as they haunt me in my dreams. But from all these bonds there is one that distracts me the most. The connection with that person is what I want to destroy more than anything else. Even the thought of his name doesn't let me live in peace. Because this person has been the only one who understood me, the only one who understood the reasons for everything I've done, the only one who never gave up hope for me. He and I are the same. He has been my only true friend. Naruto… why don't you let me leave Konoha for good? Why don't you let my consciousness alone? Why? _

_I'm afraid you live me no choice. I have to eliminate you and I'll give everything I have to make it happen…_

_Not that I possess many things now. Ever since I left Orochimaru, my only belongings are my clothes and my katana. Nothing else. I've been wandering around the world for a long time now. Since Itachi was dead I didn't have a need of Orochimaru anymore. That bastard Itachi… I've been training my whole life to get revenge and the result? He just goes and get killed by someone in his request of those demons! How pitiful… Anyway, after that, as I was saying, I didn't have a reason to be with Orochimaru. Besides he would take my body. I wouldn't just give it to him as a present. It wasn't that difficult to kill him at all. Kabuto was an excellent medical ninja. All I had to do was to steal some of the poison that he made and use it on Orochimaru. And he was supposed to be one of the "great" sannins! he didn't understand a thing! I guess he never thought about me betraying him, I was after all his subordinate right? Well, the rest was easy; the only thing I had to do was to kill Kabuto. I don't like to praise myself but even though he was a strong ninja, he was nothing compared to me. I've certainly done things more difficult than killing him._

_As I've already said, after that, I wandered around the world. It was easier than I thought it would be. Don't forget I had a hard training during the years I was with the snake-freak. I had the desire for some action. I was after all for three whole years in a dungeon with only Orochimaru and Kabuto. Believe me not the best company. Actually, I can't think of a worse… If it wasn't for power, I would leave that place long ago. Anyway, I have traveled in many places the last few years. To survive I've been doing missions for people. I have done missions ranked B, A or even S for the half money than the money that the hidden villages asked for. You can imagine that I had a lot of clients. But even though my power is already huge- some people would dream to have it- I want more. My thirst for power doesn't seem to ever slake. Thus I've decided that I want to possess that eye, that precious eye… the Mangekyou Sharingan. Unfortunately the only way to get it is to kill my best friend, or at least that is what I'm supposed to do. I guess that's another reason for me wanting his death… something so simple yet so difficult. _

With these thoughts swirling in my head I scanned the area around. Nothing seemed to be suspicious so I moved on and headed to the gates of Konoha. When I would reach the gates, I knew that they would be guarded. My face was familiar in this place so I covered it with a mask - not that I wanted to mimic my former sensei Kakashi, it is difficult to breathe with that thing – and put on a black jacket with a hood. Everything else of my appearance had change through the last years. I was much taller than before, at about 1.82m high, my muscles had gone bigger due to the long years of hard training yet I was still slim. My hair was the same as always, black like coal and had a strange shape but I didn't mind, in fact I liked them. My eyes black as ever. They were a big help in my cold look. I got rid of my old clothes. Besides they got on them the Uchiha symbol and I definitely didn't want to "advertise" who I was. Currently I wore black baggy pants and black leather boots, a black t-shirt with ripped sleeves and a black jacket with a red dragon on the back, and some pocket at the front to hold my scrolls. I know a lot of black right? Well I had I preference in that color. Anyway, a red headband replaced my old headband protector and last on my left leg I had the traditional kunai holster (or at least that's what I think it is named) but in red where I kept my kunai and shurikens.

_Konoha hasn't changed at all, even the guards are the same. Why are they looking at me so intensive? Okay, my appearance is quite suspicious but they don't have to stare at me… I hate it when people stare at me. Man this village needs a renovation. Everything is the same. Just a few shops are different! Only one thing is different. The Hokage monument, it seems that they have put on Tsunade's face too. Well I guess I needed some womanish touch. What the…Why am I even thinking about something like that? I'm here to kill some people and the only thing I can think is that the Hokage monument is better with a face of woman? I must go to Naruto's apartment. The faster the better. Besides I don't want to attract any attention. I don't think it's going to be difficult at all. I mean I've done this hundreds of times. Okay here I am, Naruto's apartment. Now its time for some observation I can't just go inside and kill him…_

I jumped on a tree and sat there, hidden from everyone else.

_Now…I can sense two persons inside. Has Naruto got a girlfriend? Maybe it's just Sakura. Damn if there is something that I am not good at is recognizing others chakra. Why do I even think like that? I'm here to kill him and I'm wondering if he has a girlfriend? What the heck is wrong with me?_

After some time of waiting I started getting bored but I had to wait till night. Another three hours passed and I decided that I was hungry so I jumped off the tree, landed softly on the ground and headed to the streets of Konoha for one more time. For some reason that I couldn't understand I was too impatient comparing to my previous missions and for the first time since I left Orochimaru I felt anxious.

I strolled for some time around and after a while I realized that I was going to Ichiraku's ramen. Why? I didn't know I guess because it was the place that I would always find Naruto when we were younger. Fortunately I thought about it again and turned to somewhere else. Many people who knew me would be there and I didn't want to take the risk of someone recognizing me. In the end I got a sandwich from a small shop. I don't know if it was supposed to be delicious but after such long time without proper food anything would be perfect for me.

As I continued my walk I reached the Uchiha mansion, what I used to call home about 15 years ago. Immediately I felt a curiosity flaming in me and the feeling of loneliness stroked my heart. I stood there without doing anything, I just watched the mansion fighting with myself if I should or not go inside. In the end my curiosity won so entered in. nobody appeared to care about a stranger going in a deserted place. I walked around the place as memories of my childhood passed through my mind. I saw my mother cooking in the kitchen, singing her favorite songs, my father returning from his job late at night and my brother preparing to go on a mission. But that's not the case anymore, that's not my life for a long time now. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust and still in place, just like it used to be. No one had been in the house for a long time. Right after the death of my clan I moved in a small apartment away from my memories, away from the death and of course near the training grounds to have easy access at them since training was the usual way of passing my free time. Suddenly something drug me back to the reality. I hadn't noticed when I first walked in that room, maybe the memories of that day, that unforgettable day, but on the floor near the place where I found so many years ago my dead parents, laid a rose, a peach rose, peach roses symbolize appreciation and friendship, also it was only one, that meant simplicity and gratitude. Behind it, I could see… footprints. They were faint and barely visible but they were there. For a moment I felt anger filling me. That place was my house, it was a sacred place for me and a stranger just came in. Fortunately I simmered down when I saw the rose one more time. For someone to put it there showed sympathy and surprising not hate towards me but companionship. Who could possibly put that there especially since nobody was my friend.

I stood there thinking for some time when I heard a bird singing. I immediately left my thoughts and walked outside. A small bird, a mere small and weak brown bird sat at the top of a tree sang its unique song. It was really beautiful. How can a little creature like that create something so perfect? With the voice of the bird ringing in my ears I exited the mansion. As the night covered everything I decided I had to return to Naruto's apartment. I enjoyed the silence that ruled the village since people seemed to return to there houses and soon only some ninja walked from time to time not suspecting anything about my intensions. I felt the cool breeze through my hair and relax but not forgetting about my task not even for a second. Too bad for Naruto, he has to die at such a beautiful night. A smirk formed on my lips and went back to tree were I had waited before so long time. _I have to make this quickly or else I'll draw the attention of the neighbors, certainly not the best thing to happen. _I watched closely the two people inside. Even though the curtain was close I could easily distinguish their figures behind it. The two of them went to bed for sleep. _Who the hell is Naruto with?_ I waited for a couple of minutes until I could hear slow breaths of sleeping people. It was show time…

I jumped to the open window and quietly removed the curtain, I peered inside and when I was sure it was okay I jumped inside. I slowly headed to the bedroom where they were sleeping. Soon two dark mazes appeared on a bed. I took a kunai in my hand and moved as quiet as possible towards them. I took carefully the blanket off them and prepared to cut his throat. I lifted my hand ready to strike when something happened that I could never believe…

**A/N: **I know it stops so suddenly but it is only the first chapter. The others will be much bigger I promise. Please review!!!!!!!!!!1


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** Naruto does not belong to me. If it did it wouldn't be so good.

**A/N: **I guess that's the second chapter. Unfortunately nobody wrote a review. I didn't really expect to get any but I guess a part of me wanted one. At least someone put it in his favorites so thank you Sniperleader190.

**A small reminder of what was happening:**

I jumped to the open window and quietly removed the curtain, I peered inside and when I was sure it was okay I jumped inside. I slowly headed to the bedroom where they were sleeping. Soon two dark mazes appeared on a bed. I took a kunai in my hand and moved as quiet as possible towards them. I took carefully the blanket off them and prepared to cut his throat. I lifted my hand ready to strike when something happened that I could never believe…

**CHAPTER TWO**

I stared at the man's face. I couldn't even blink my eyes. A thirty-year-old man with brown spiky hair slept peacefully in the bed and next to him laid a woman with long black hair._ Where the heck is Naruto? And what are they doing in his apartment? _I couldn't believe my eyes._ I waited so many hours for the evening for this?_

I quickly jumped outside through the window and landed softly on the ground. My mind was blank and I couldn't think properly. I had never thought that Naruto might have moved in another place. _Is there a possibility for him to be dead? No, this can't be the case, he can't be dead… _I started getting anxious about him and when I realized that I was actually worried about him, I hated myself for thinking like that. All those thoughts were against the way I had lived for so long and my decision about killing him. I just couldn't think like that.

Then I was only a small step from panicking and that really wasn't myself but I really didn't know what to do next.

I stood on a small bridge and watched the moonlight reflected on the crystal water of the stream that passed below me. A flutter echoed from behind as an owl caught a mouse for dinner. A frog filled the air with its strange song and a small butterfly flew naively around not feeling the danger around._ That's what I was planning to do, to kill Naruto without him waiting for it. _The butterfly flew away before the frog had a chance to get it. _And that's exactly what has happened to me. _Standing there I tried to put my thoughts in place. _Naruto must moved in another place, but where? There has to be a place where there is such kind of information. If only I had the blueprints of the village…wait a minute, that's it, all I have to do is steal the blueprints of the village!_

I didn't wait any longer. I ran towards the Konoha's head carpenter's house where they were kept. Fortunately no one was guarding it. _What a pathetic village_. It took me some time I finally found them in a hidden chest. I took them and left immediately. I headed to the forest where I started searching through the papers. I found the houses of many familiar people but the name of Naruto was nowhere to be found. The thought of him dead crossed my mind again. Then I put the blueprints back to place so that nobody understood they were missing. After, I thought about what to do next. The first thing that came to my head was the monument where the names of all the ninja who lost their lives for the success of a mission were written there. However Naruto's name wasn't there either. There was only one place left to get answers. Sakura…

I never thought that I would actually ever need her help. Of course I wouldn't just go and ask her about Naruto. _I guess I'll have to wait a little longer._ I exited the village and went to the woods to spend the night. The next day I returned to the village. I was walking around when I saw it; a poster for the annual festival. _Of course, that's my chance to sneak into Sakura's house. Everyone will be at the festival. _

The sun was finally gone and a full moon replaced it on the dark sky. I watched closely as everyone started going to the festival. No one stayed behind to guard the place. The village was at the most vulnerable possible, I couldn't ask for more. I put on my cloak and prepared for my search.

Then I headed to Sakura's house.

It was too easy to get into Sakura's room. All the people were busy having fun at the festival so no one bothered with me. Her bedroom was very tidy (not that I had expected otherwise from Sakura) and everything had a shade of blue and orange which surprised me; for some reason I had expected everything to be pink. The walls were covered with pictures of her and Naruto, Kakashi, Tsunade, the entire rookie 9 and the above class and … me. I couldn't believe that she still had picture of me. _What the heck does she need to hate me? _Anyway, when I recovered from the slight shock I looked in all the places of her bedroom. After some time of searching, I didn't find anything useful, only those damn photographs. I was ready to give up when I discovered a small wooden box. It was very beautiful, it was made by rose wood and on it was carved the nine tails demon, the Kyuubi…I open it carefully like it was something valuable and looked inside. There was a small book, with her name written on it and letters, letters from Naruto. Eventually I found something that would show where the hell Naruto was. I seek the most recent one, which unfortunately was two years old. _What has he been doing the last two years?_ I slowly opened the envelope and started reading the letter.

_Dear Sakura-chan,_

_How've you been doing? Sorry for not writing for so long, you must be worried sick about me since I promised I would write to you every two weeks but I was kinda busy and when I had the time I was away from civilization so I couldn't send any letters. Currently I am in the Hidden Village of Grass. It's a nice peaceful place but its nothing compared with Konoha._

_I've been training like a maniac, my control over Kyuubi is growing day by day but it's never enough; I always lose control after a certain time. I've learned some new cool moves too! I've even made new friends. I've told them everything about Konoha and my friends there. I wish you could meet them, they really are great people. However don't think that I ever forget you. I miss you and everyone else but at least here nobody hates me since no one knows who I am and certainly not about Kyuubi._

_What about you? Are you still training with obaachan? If anyone bothers you just tell me and I'll be there in no time, or if you prefer you can always kick his ass since you are a jounin because Konoha is far from here to do it myself. It will be a good excuse to come for a visit though…_

_Please write me soon, I love reading your letters. I know that mine are not the best but I was never good with such things. Say hello to everyone from me. Goodbye for now and I'll try to see you soon._

_P.S. in the envelope you will also find photos from the places I've been since last time I've send you a letter and I promise I'll pay a visit soon._

_With much love_

_Naruto_

_Okay, this isn't very helpful… he was planning on visiting her soon but when? And what happened later? There are no more recent letters than that one. _I sat on Sakura's bed thinking about my next move. _What would I do next?_ I was out of clues and came to a dead end which I certainly didn't enjoy. I hated not knowing what to do next.

I was lost in my thoughts that I didn't hear the door opening and someone entering the room. Before I could even understand what was going on, a punch was coming towards me. I merely dodge and tried to kick the attacker but she bend and I missed. Before she could land on me a punch I jumped on the window to leave the place. At the last moment however Sakura who as it appeared was much faster than before pulled my hood back and my face became visible. She gasped at the view of my face, stopped her attack and stare at me. "Sa…Sa…Sasuke?" was the only thing she managed to whisper. I took the chance and before she was able to react I left her house and raced to the woods.

She couldn't believe her eyes_ Sasuke in Konoha? In my room?_ She immediately turned her head to her bed where he was sitting. She saw the open letter. _He was reading Naruto-kun's letters? Why would he do something like that? _She didn't like the idea at all. Naruto's letters were very important to her. She reluctantly took the letter in her hands. She remembered that letter. It was the last letter he had sent her. He had then come for a visit as he had promised, said goodbye and left again. _I have to report this to Tsunade-sama. _She ran at full speed back o the festival. _Now where could she be?_ She looked in many places and asked some people if she had seen her but she finally found her. "Tsunade-sama!" she screamed to make her stop walking. Tsunade heard the familiar voice of her apprentice and turned to see a running Sakura coming towards her.

"Hokage-sama I've finally found you" she manage to say panting.

"What is it Sakura? I thought you left the festival. I something wrong" the blonde woman asked worried.

"I…you won't believe who I've met."

"You know that I don't like such games. Just tell me what is going on." her voice was a little rough.

"Sasuke, I've met Sasuke" her voice ws soft and low, almost a whisper

"What? That's not possible! Sasuke left the village a long time ago. There are some rumors that claim that he is dead too! How can he be back to the village?

Sakura took a big breath and explained to her teacher what had happened. "I'm not sure but I think he headed to the forest."

"There is nothing we can do about it now. He must be far away from here by now. Wait till tomorrow and we will send a team to look for him.

"Yes sensei." The pink-hair woman answered in a confident voice.

"and Sakura…" the Hokage said when she turned her back to leave

"Yes sensei?"

"Don't do anything reckless" she said in a voice that sounded like she was begging her

"Yes madam" her answer was in a low voice this time.

Sakura went to bed but couldn't sleep. She was thinking about Sasuke. They all regarded him dead but she had seen him some hours ago in her bedroom. At the thought of it her face turned red. He was the only man, except Naruto, who had entered her bedroom. She shook her head. It wasn't time to think about such things. Besides she no longer loved Sasuke, her love turned to hate along time ago. What if that man wasn't Sasuke and it was only her imagination? And more importantly what was he doing in her room and why reading Naruto's letters? She tried her best to find an answer but nothing seemed to make sense. A couple of hours later she finally gave in and entered the world of dreams.

At Tsunade's office the next morning

"What is it Hokage-sama? It's only six o' clock in the morning! What is it so important to call us so early?" asked Kiba yawning.

"I know what time it is Inuzuka Kiba, you don't have to remind it to me" the Hokage answered obviously not enjoying too the early wake up. "However it is an emergency situation so I need everyone's cooperation.

"This sounds troublesome" Shikamaru commented.

"As I was saying" the blonde's voice rose dangerously "last night someone sneaked in Sakura's house"

"What??" Ino screamed

"Will you let me tell you what is going on?" Tsunade yelled annoyed. "Good" she continued satisfied with the attention they were all paying to her. "The real problem is who entered Sakura's room. This man I believe is well known among you. That's why I choose you to find him. His name is Uchiha Sasuke."

Whispers filled the room. Only Sakura said nothing. She was lost in her own thoughts.

"I'm sorry for asking you Hokage-sama, but isn't Sasuke-kun dead?" this time it was Hinata who made the question.

Hearing her, everyone turned to listen to her answer.

"That's what we believe but we had never any evidence and last night it was proved otherwise."

"So this is a mission to bring him back?"

"Exactly Neji. However you can't go all together, you are too much. Thus you will go as two teams. The first team will find him and try to bring him back while the other team will work as a back up team. You will wait and take action only when something goes wrong. Now Neji, Shikamaru, Sakura, Kiba and Lee you are team one. Ino, Tenten, Choji, Hinata and Shino you will be team two and you will make a circle with a radius of 200m around them and be ready to attack if it's needed. Shikamaru, Shino you are the captains of the two teams. Team one, team two, you will leave from the east gate in half hour!"

"Yes madam!" they all said in one voice

"You are dismissed and be careful" she added in a soft voice

About half an hour later at the east gate of Konoha.

They all gathered and waited for the instructions of Shikamaru. They all knew abou the power of his mind and trusted his plans.

"Okay everyone, the mission is simple. We have to retrieve Sasuke. Sakura did you see where he headed last night when he left your house?"

"I think he went toward the woods but I'm not sure. The good thing is that Kiba came a while ago to my house and he was able to track his smell from the things he touched last night."

"Good, we will be able to find him then. Now, with the plan. I don't know how strong he is but the last time we met him his power was huge and if I'm not wrong he continued his training so I'm guessing he is really strong so everyone be careful."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"We will have to trick him. If I catch him in my kagemane everything will be easy. You will all be able to attack him freely when I hold him. I know it's not the most honorable way to defeat him but I don't want to risk anyone's life" he said and turned towards Lee.

"Why are you looking at me, I didn't say a thing" he screamed

"I just make sure myself"

"What do you mean make sure yourself?"

"This is not the time for such things Lee!" Tenten said while trying to make Lee shut up with the help of Neji. When they finally managed to calm him down Shikamru continued

"I will try to show from which way you should attack to lead him where I want. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

Team if we need you, well…we…"

"You will use your transmitters Kiba" Shino finished his sentence

"Yeah we will use our transmitters"

After a while…

"I can see him" said Neji. "He is about 100m forwards. He doesn't seem to have noticed us but ready for everything.

I was sleeping on a tree when I sensed something. I was a light sleeper since robbers were everywhere in the forests. I could feel five to ten approaching._ Shit, Sakura has told Tsunade about me._ I immediately jumped started to run I was too late and before I could get away they had surrounded me.

"Sasuke!" I heard Sakura scream. I was in the middle of their circle. I sighed and turned to face her.

"So you recognized me yesterday" I said in a cold voice

"Sasuke-kun?" she sounded puzzled and scared.

I had changed in an even colder person.

"What do you want Sakura?" I continued in the same manner.

She was quiet for some time, to think I guess about her answer. I took the chance to take better look of her. It had been seven years since I had last seen her and I didn't had the chance to do so the night before because she was in the darkness but I could see her clearly now in the daylight. She had grown. She had an aura of confidence around her. Her pink hair was still short and her eyes shined green like two emeralds. Her body was one of a woman and curvy. Her skin was silky and white as the milk. Even though I am not perverted I have to say that she was attractive and I bet she was popular to the opposite sex. Her cloths were (a little) revealing. She wore a short red skirt with black strips, a short black tight shirt and black boots. She had her headband protector as always on her head but in a black color as well and last she wore black gloves and wore a necklace with a small green crystal on it.

A soft low voice coming from her interrupted my thoughts.

"Is that really you?"

"Well duh…"

"Why Sasuke-kun why?..."

The tone of my voice rose unconsciously and I ended yelling at her "You mean… where was I for so long and why haven't I returned to the village and all that bullshit?" I stopped to take a breath "that's none of your busyness" I said calmly.

The shock on her face made her look strange and I barely managed not to laugh. But fortunately it also gave me some time to think and observe my surroundings. _It seems that except them there are other ninjas a little further hiding, probably reinforments in case something goes wrong. But Naruto where are you? Could he be with the others? No, Naruto is not the type to hold back. I guess there is only one way to find out about him._

"Where is Naruto?"

"Huh?" Sakura certainly didn't expect such question.

"Where is Naruto?" I repeated myself

"That's not your busyness."

"And why not?"

"For the same reason the fact that you were missing the last years is not my busyness!"

I have to admit it, she was good with word. But Sakura was always the clever one of our team wasn't she? I locked my eyes with hers. I could see that my question about Naruto caused her pain. Something was going wrong.

"Look, even though I'd loved to stay for some chit-chat, unfortunately I don't have the time so answer me fast so I can leave."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple"

"What's so complicated with my question? What part is so difficult to understand? Tell me to explain it to you" I said in a sarcastic tone

"You only have two options Uchiha" this time someone else spoke. They had apparently understood that the discussion was between me and Sakura and none of them had said a thing but that was the end of our nice conversation. I looked at him. He had long brown hair and had white eyes. He was dressed in white.

"So a Hyuga… Hyuga Neji" _A strong opponent, his charka level is considerable. _ I guess I spaced out for a moment thinking because suddenly he started coughing, that fake annoying cough that someone makes when he wants to get attention. I turned my attention back to him.

"Are you okay? You know Sakura is a medical ninja she should examine you. Maybe it's something severe." I said casually.

"No…no, I'm fine but as I was saying you only have two options"

"Which are?"

"You either surrender and return with us to the village, or else we simply drag you back. You may choose which one you prefer."

"What if I don't like the options?"

"You are not in the position to have an opinion in this Uchiha" Kiba talked this time.

"Hmm. What happened Kiba? Since when do you speak and don't bark? If I remember well you used to be a little more narutish"

"Maybe if you weren't gone for so long this wouldn't be a surprise for you." Lee answered to me. He hadn't changed at all. He became just like that Gai.

"And who asked you?" He was ready to say something when Shikamaru spoke

"It's not time for this. Sasuke, Neji told you your options. Choose quickly"

"Always thinking about finishing quickly so that you will sit and watch the clouds am I right?" I said with a smirk

"Maybe…"

_Now what should I do? It has been some time since I had a good fight and this is a good opportunity. However, they are too many, I might be strong but am I strong enough to take down so many? Besides if I kill them what happens next? Konoha will be on alert. It will be impossible to get in again and I still know nothing about where the heck Naruto is. I'd loved to see them suffer and covered in blood but that bastard is more important now. If I surrender they will take me in the village where I could find out something about him. I hate it but it's my only choice…_

"Okay I've made up my mind. I surrender…"

"What?" Sakura, Kiba and Lee screamed in union

"Are you deaf or something? I said I'll come back to the village without a fight…"

Well that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed it. Please review to get some ideas and especially about couples because I still haven't decided. Ja ne…


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** Naruto does not belong to me. If it did it wouldn't be so good.

**A/N: **Sorry for not updating for so long…

This is the same chapter three that I put before I just put Tenten's description too cause for some reason I forgot to write it from the beginning. There is no need to read it again only if you want to read that small extra part. You can easily use the scroll and read that paragraph only. All the Tenten fans I'm so sorry…

**Chapter 3**

They all stood there and stared in pure shock. There faces were pretty amusing and that led me to smirk and force myself not to burst in a maniac-like laugh.

"Okay then" Shikamaru finally collected himself "But you will have to wear these, to escort you to the village" while Neji was putting hand cuffs on my hands.

"I would be surprised if I didn't have to put them on"

They all came closer to me, formed a small circle around me and called the others with their transmitters. Soon the rest of them arrived.

"Are you sure we can trust him? He might plan something tricky" Ino said and gave me a suspicious look.

"No one said about trusting him...of course we will be ready for an attack or something" the Huuyga boy responded.

"Thanks for trusting me so much"

"You lost our trust a long time ago" the pink-hair konoichi answered me coldly.

"Anyway, let's get going" Shikamaru interrupted our 'beautiful' conversation.

Our 'walk' towards the village was quiet; actually no one said a word. They were all looking forward but I could still sense there looks from time to time peering on me. I could easily tell that they weren't that comfortable with me around and were worried for an ambush. i liked the tranquility that ruled the scenery and decided to use my time for observing them again. Knowing your enemy is a great advantage after all. None of them had changed dramatically. They just grew taller, had a mature body and different length of hair (some of them). Most of the males wore the usual ninja uniform with a chuunin or a jounin vest and the others wore something similar with there old ones. The girls were the only who changed their clothes style.

Hinata wore blue stretch trousers and a white shirt. She wore white boots which covered her legs till almost her knees and a white belt where she kept her equipment, scrolls and kunai. Last she had the usual shuriken holster on her right thigh and had her headband protector on her neck like always. Her hair was short again which exposed her white silky neck. She was a beauty, a deadly beauty since her chakra felt strong and her moves were confident unlike when she was young.

Ino had her hair long like always. She wore a short black skirt and a short black shirt with some net below it to 'cover' something more and had black boots. Her head band protector was moved to her arm and she had her shuriken holster like Hinata. She was moving like she was a star or something. But she always like that wasn't she?

Tenten had changed her hairstyle. She now had her hair tied up. She wore short black pants and a white shirt. Her shoes were the same, in black. She wore a white belt which used in the same way as Hinata and had her headband protector on her forehead. Last she had the usual kunai holster on the right thigh. I hadn't known her well ten years before but I assumed she was strong.

All four of them had matured a lot and even though I'm not, I repeat I'm not a perverted, if I could I would do naughty things with all of them without any hesitation. Their thoughts however for me weren't the same. The reasons are obvious. When Sakura caught me observe her she shot me with a deathly cold look which was entirely different from what I was used to. She would fell unconscious from happiness even at the thought of me peering on her and observe her thoroughly. Hey what did I expect, to be welcomed with hugs and kisses?

After a while we reached the gates of Konoha once more. When we were about to enter I stopped walking.

"What's the matter?" Neji turned at me.

"I don't want the villagers to se me"

"Do you really believe that if the last survivor of the Uchiha clan returns, it will stay a secret?" the heiress of the Yamanaka clan said.

"Of course not, but I still don't want to be seen, the villagers will just know but they won't see me..."

"Couldn't you think of the embarrassment before you leave Konoha?" Kiba whispered but everyone heard him and nodded in agreement.

"I never said a think about embarrassment!" I protested

"Then what's the reason for not wanting to be seen?" Ino continued

I opened my mouth but before I could say a thing Shikamaru cut me off again. "Just put your hood on again and we will move fast till we reach the Hokage tower so nobody will be able to see you.

"Thanks" it was the only I found appropriate to say. I really did mean that word though. To say the truth I didn't have a clue about what to say to Ino so he had saved my butt.

Soon Tenten was knocking at the door to enter the Hokage's office. After her giving permission we went in. It was the same as ten years ago. A desk in the middle and some shelves full of books. Behind a huge column of papers on the desk Tsunade was sitting waiting for the news of the team. She looked as young as ever at her twenties even though she was about 60 years old! Her hair long in the same design and her eyes golden to brown, only those two eyes showed her age. They weren't so shining anymore and if you looked deep in them you could see the pain she had gone through her life and the tiredness that burdened her. But you could also see the sharpness of her mind and the wisdom she had gotten through her many experiences. She was a perfect person for the position of the Hokage.

"How was the mission Sakura?" her golden eyes shone to her apprentice.

"Our mission was successful Tsunade-sama. We have successfully bring Sasuke back to the village and without any problems we didn't have to fight."

"He came without a fight?" the blonde woman said shocked. What had bothered me was the fact that they were talking about me without even caring that I was present. It was like I was ghost, like I was a lifeless thing!

"Yes Tsunade-sama, but we don't know the reasons of it" she answered and stepped to the side. I moved forward and pulled the hood down that covered my face. No one said a thing. Tsunade looked at me from the top to the bottom, sure not to let a detail escape from her eyes. Her eyes never leaving me, she ordered everyone to leave the room. Sakura tried to protest but with no effect.

Now only me, Tsunade and Shizume were left in the room. Oh yeah and Tonton... When their steps faded away she turned her attention back to me.

"So...you came here without a fight. Is it true?"

"Yes" I simply said gazing in her eyes steadily

"Why did you return to Konoha Sasuke?" she asked coldly. I had to choose my words carefully before saying anything to her.

"Is it wrong to miss my home Tsunade-sama?"

"Hmm... is this the real reason?" she continued the same tone and you could see on her face that her brain was working hard to find out why I was back. She obviously hadn't believe a word. I decided to play for a little longer my role as the 'naive' boy who had returned to his hometown.

"Yes, why would I lie?" I said as innocently as I could.

"Maybe that's the case" a light of hope sparkled in my heart, "but" I frowned with that word "I can't let you return just like that, not when you are considered an S criminal in the bingo book"

"I understand." What else did I want? It was Tsunade I was talking with, a woman who understood the changes in my personality from her first look.

"You will be held in prison until the council takes further decisions. Take him" she ordered and two Anbu jumped in, covered my face again with the hood and escorted me to the prison.

We reached the prison after a while. One of the Anbu talked with the guards and after a few minutes of waiting they opened the big iron door that kept us outside. The other Anbu pushed me forward. We slowly walked down a 'few' steps and made our way through a big dark tunnel. On our both sides i could see the prisoners sitting in small cages, miserable and accompanied with mice, cockroaches and spiders. We went straight, then turned right and then left. When we reached the last cage on our left side we stopped. The Anbu took off me all my equipment; kunai, shuriken, scrolls and most importantly my katana. Then they took off the handcuffs and threw me in my cell. i heard the key locking the door and without a word they left the prison.\

I listened to their steps and the sound of the iron door that closed behind the. Then nothing, absolute silence dominated the dungeon; that's at least how that place seemed. Only the faint echo of the mice that moved from the one cell to another, the huge spiders that moved on their nets and the cockroaches that tried to eat something from the moldy remnants of food that released a smell that apparently attracted them. Only them were attracted though because to me and I guess to the others too brought only sickness. If you focused more you could also hear the others prisoners breathing. Their breaths were faint, but they were there. About ten minutes after the departure of the Anbu the man in the opposite cell broke the silence.

"So... a new prisoner...what have you done? Killed a granny? his joke was as funny as the smell of his smell which reached my nose, believe it or not we even had a 2 meters distance between us. That's a 'fresh' breath... He laughed, a deep ugly laugh and other people joined him. When their laughs finally ceased I decided it was time to show that 'little' pitiful man his position.

"Are you trying to look as a tough guy? Well I don't think so" I stood up and walked to the bars of my cell. I activated my Sharigan and looked straight in his eyes. The man tried to look away but I didn't let him. He was terrified and started to shake.

"Now, what were you saying", my voice was cold and deathly

"No...nothing...I was...I was just...trying to...to...to...you know...welcome...y...you..." I looked even deeper in his eyes

"Yes?"

"And it won't happen again" he added quickly.

I deactivated my Sharigan and moved to the back of the cell.

"Now, that's much better" I said smirking. I saw him falling to his knees; his breaths were deep and heavy. I could even see his clothes, wet from his sweat. I smirked at the sight of him.

"What a fool..." the man in the cell next to the sweating man said. "Provoking an Uchiha, of course only someone who is not a shinobi could do something so foolish"

Whispers filled the room.

The same man who from his words he was a ninja continued "Why did you let them capture you?"

"Let them?" I asked

"I'm not a fool you know, to be hear, it means that you wanted to"

"True, however I'm not telling you my intensions"

"I'm not a fool, I won't push you to tell me"

"Hn"

The other prisoners started to talk to each other. They mostly talked about the outside world outside wondering if anything had changed while they were in jail or about the happening between me and the opposite-cell-prisoner. The most of them were thieves and murderers but surprisingly, there was a considerable number of ninjas too, from genin to jounin. I sat in my small cell thinking about Naruto. It was an unsolved mystery. No one seemed to even mention him. There was only one choice. I turned my gaze to the former shinobi in the opposite row of cells.

"Oi..."

"Who me?"

"Obviously..." I said sarcastically. "Do you know anyone called Naruto"

"Do you mean the demon boy?" I frowned at the word 'demon' _Does he really consider him as the Kuuybi no kitsune? _I decided not to comment it though.

"Yes that's him"

"What do you want to know?" I was surprised he was able to talk so steadily without a sign of fear when he had already seen what had happened to the other guy.

"Where is he? I looked for him in the whole village but I couldn't find him anywhere."

"Well I'm not surprised, he is not here anymore"

"What do you mean?"

"First of all be thankful because I was a shinobi before I was poisoned or I wouldn't know any of these"

"Whatever"

"Anyway about the Kuuybi boy. he became something like Jiraya, you know the sannin. By this I don't mean be as strong as him even though it is said that he is. He was traveling around the villages. There he could easily help other teams that need help and get information about the condition of the other villages. He helped my team once, he was pretty strong"

"What about now? You used past tense. Is he in another village?" _Great, I'm kept in Konoha and he is not here. _

"Well not exactly. He was traveling but paid some visits. However it is said that he hasn't returned for two years. I heard that it has something to do with Kuuybi but I'm not sure"

"For a prisoner you sure know a lot."

"I have my ways. Besides, I'm not here for a long time."

"So something with Kuuybi..."

"Yes I think about controlling his power or something but as I said I don't know for sure. I know these from other shinobis."

"That's some interesting information"

_I know that Naruto is not in the village, but i don't know where he is. I'm stuck in here and can't get out easily. At least now i know something more than before but at a great cost. What can I do?_

A voice brought me back to reality. I noticed that all the whispers had stopped. I heard two people walking. Soon they were in front of my cell. The sound of the locker echoed in the dungeons and broke the tensed silence that was created in there.

"You have visitors" a strong voice came from one of the men who stood in front of me. I stood up without another word said. They put on the handcuffs again and started walking again. I followed him feeling the other guard watching my back close behind. _Who could have come and visit me? Did the news about my return spread so fast? _After a few moments my questions were answered. They led me in an upper floor where even windows existed. We entered a small room with white walls and ceiling. Instead of a wall there was glass in the one side. In, there was a simple wooden table and two wooden chairs on the two sides, the one opposite from the other. On the one chair sat Sakura. _Who else would visit me? What does she want now?_ I sat on the only chair left and looked her straight in her eyes. The guards closed the door and watched us from the glass.

"What do you want?" I asked straight away before she could say a thing.

She didn't flinch however and answered calmly.

"I wanted to ask you the reason of your visit"

"As I said before, all these are not your busyness"

"It's because of Naruto isn't it? You asked where he is. He is the reason you are here am I right?" she paused for a moment "I thought you would know he isn't here anymore" her voice broke and it didn't go unnoticed. "I guess I was wrong"

"I just found out" I simply said.

_Why did he leave?_ I remembered the words of the shinobi. _It has something to do with Kuuybi… I think about controlling his powers. _ My thoughts were cut off by Sakura's sobs. _What a troublesome girl. What is going on? Why is she trying so hard to keep her tears back? What the hell happened to him? _My anger was rising dangerously.

"What happened to him?" I asked surprisingly calmly. She was reluctant in the beginning to tell me anything but she said.

"I'm so worried about him… he was supposed to return to Konoha about two weeks ago"

"What?" was only what I managed to say shocked.

**A/N: **Hope you liked it. If you have any ideas please write them cause really I don't know even myself what will happen next. I have some ideas but I'd like to hear yours too. So a little feedback would be appreciated. Ja


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** Naruto does not belong to me. If it did, it wouldn't be so good.

**Chapter 4**

Her eyes were red, but what had happened to him was still a mystery.

"I must be a fool, but I'll tell you everything…" she said looking directly at my eyes

About two years ago

A man appeared in front of the gates of Konoha. His blond hair shone under the strong rays of the sun and played with the soft breeze. His eyes, blue and deep like the ocean had a glint of confidence and power as they scanned the area around him. His eyes had something unusual, something that only in a few people you could see. You just couldn't understand if he was sad or happy. Inside of him happiness and sadness fought each other. Equal forces struggled in him trying to win his heart. But none of them seemed to be able to rule him. He was tall, about 1.80m high. He only wore black baggy trousers. A silver chain was hanging on his pants. Nothing covered his bare chest, just a necklace with a green stone. His only luggage was a black backpack. Sweat covered his whole body because of the hot weather.

It was indeed a beautiful summer morning. The sky was blue and clear. Not even one cloud covered the bright sun or even a small part of the unlimited sky. The song of little birds filled the air, a smooth song which matched with the tranquility of the scenery.

The man walked and entered the village, then stopped and looked around.

"I'm finally home" he said "at least for a while" he added whispering.

"Hey! You there, who are you and what do you want?" the guard asked surprised with his choice of dressing.

"Haven't you recognized me Kotetsu-san?" the man said

"Naruto it's been a long time since you last paid a visit."

"Yeah, I know…" Naruto said itching the back of his head.

"Why are you wearing these?" he said peering his bare feet and chest.

"Well you know…" he said nervously "it was kinda hot today and I decided not to wear anything else. At first I thought to wear only my underpants but I guess I would overdo it"

"Thank Kami-sama you thought about it."

"Anyway I'm hungry, ramen would just perfect now and I want to see Sakura-chan too."

"I hope she won't react violently because Naruto you overdid it a little this time, you haven't been here for five months! You haven't forgotten what happened the previous time have you?"

"I remember..." he said scared and touched his cheek remembering the punch he had received."I better get going then, I don't want to more late than I already am. Bye! See you later!" he shouted running.

_I have to go and see obaa-chan first. I promised I would report to her when I would come back._

He jumped from the one roof to the other and headed to the Hokage's tower. Soon he was climbing the stairs that led to the office. He arrived to the door. He heard people talking inside but he didn't bother and entered without getting permission.

"Obaa-chan! I'm here at last!! he said and his well-known grin appeared on his face.

Tsunade was shocked and prepared to yell at the fool who had interrupted her meeting with the Huuyga headman but smiled instead when she saw who was standing at the door. In contrast her visitor didn't have the same reaction. Instead he frowned at the sight of the blond man and the way he was dressed particularly. Naruto didn't care about the man's thoughts about him though so he continued.

"You haven't changed a bit obaa-chan." Then he looked the man in front of him "I'm sorry but this doesn't count for you sir." he said looking at the wrinkles formed on his face. the brown-hair man seemed to get angry but fortunately the Hokage noticed him

"I'm sorry Hiashi-sama but this is important. I'm sure we can continue our discussion another time."

"Yes madam, I guess I will be back tomorrow."

"That's sounds fine. Come at my office at five 'o clock. If there is any problem I will inform you in time to change our appointment"

"Goodbye Hokage-sama and see you tomorrow"

"Yes. Have a nice day."

When the woman saw the door closing she turned to Naruto.

"You know you shouldn't talk like that to such important man. That was very rude. And what about your clothes? Why are you wearing only pants?"

"Well...you see...it's hot today so...WAIT A MINUTE. I've been away for so long and this is the welcome I get? he said in a complaining manner.

Her lips formed a big smile, one that she rarely wore. But that man was always able to make her smile. He had something, that special gift to make everyone forget about their problems and try their best in anything they did. How he could do it was a mystery but the fact he had the power to make her smile was far more than enough. Her thoughts could continue for hours but there was a certain man standing in front of her waiting for an answer.

"Welcome back Naruto-kun" she said sweetly reaching his expectations for a warm welcome.

"It's good to see you too" the man told her calmly .He had changed through the years.

He hadn't matured only physically but mentally too. He had become a calm clever man. Of course his constant enjoy ness wasn't gone but it was controlled and certainly not annoying. He had rather become a man who faced everything he encountered without being kept down and could move on despite the obstacles that crossed his way. How could a man who had passed so much in his life still be so faithful was a miracle.

"Tsunade... even though I don't want to, we have to talk." he said suddenly serious. He looked around. "It's secure to talk in here isn't it?"

"Yes don't worry Naruto; nobody will listen to our discussion. But first of all are you sure of this. I mean two years is a long time, am I right?"

"You know that I don't have another choice. I hate such loneliness but I can't be around people, not when I might hurt them. I want to become the Hokage and protect the people of this village, not to kill them because I'm not strong enough to control my own chakra!"

"I know, I just hope there was another solution."

"I know obaa-chan but don't worry, I'll be fine" the man said softly.

For a while none of them spoke a word, they just looked in each other's eyes.

"Do you want to know where you are going to stay Naruto-kun?"

"I think I should. Is it nice at least?"

"Of course, I chose it myself. It's beyond the five countries, a one and a half week trip if you run. But with your speed you should even reach it in six to seven days. It's a beautiful small forest. Nobody goes there because it's not very close to the villages and even the 'bad guys' don't go there because they prefer to be closer to spy their enemies. There is a small river, it's actually more like a stream where you can get much water and you can spend your nights in the many caves that are spread around the area."

"That sounds good"

"I tried to find a good place specially for you. I hate the fact you are leaving fort son long so I'll make your staying there as enjoyable as possible."

"Thanks. Tsunade... I want to ask you something else too. Does...does Sakura know?"

"No she doesn't. I figured out, that you would should tell her yoursel..."

"What will he tell me himself?" asked Sakura entering the room.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked shocked. Was he really so distracted with his discussion he didn't even feel her?

"Naruto-kun?" she said in disbelief. "I didn't know you came back!"

"I've just come" he said grinning

"Well then WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?" she yelled angrily

"Save me..." Naruto whispered watching her anger rising in her so rapidly. "Someone please save me" he begged silently.

Tsunade sighed at the view. The sudden change of Sakura's feelings was an everyday case.

"I'm sorry Sakura" Naruto's voice came smooth but most importantly pained.

"Na...Naruto-kun? I didn't mean...Please, is something wrong?" she asked concerned hearing the sadness that filled him and regretful for shouting before.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan for not visiting you often. I shouldn't be away from Konoha for so long"

"Don't apologize Naruto-kun I understand that you have to."

"I haven't finished yet." he sighed "Mostly, I'm sorry because I'll have to leave you again."

"What? What are you talking about? You are leaving right now? But you just came! Tsunade-sama what does he mean?"

"I'm leaving in three days. The problem is, I won't return for two years"

"Two years? What kind of mission are you sent to? I don't believe this. Tsunade-sama, what is going on? Where are you sending him?"

"I'm afraid he is saying the truth and this is not a mission Sakura..." she paused for a moment but continued when Naruto urged her to do so with his eyes. She sighed "As you already know, when Yondaime sealed Kyuubi in Naruto, he used a seal which permits Kyuubi's chakra to flow in Naruto. It was designed in a special way, so that one day, Kyuubi's an Naruto's chakra will fuse completely. This is happening now. Soon Kyuubi will exist no more, only his energy will exist in Naruto. Unfortunately in our dismay there are some...how to say it... side effects."

"Side effects?"

"That's right. Sometimes, Naruto loses control; enormous amounts of energy are released from his body without him wanting to. It destroys everything in its path. It does not recognize a comrade or a foe. Thus there is a great risk of hurting innocent people since Naruto can not control it, especially when his emotions are tensed and destroys whatever is nearby. In order to protect the people we have decided to send him to live in an isolated place far from civilization and any human being until the fusion of the two chakras is completed. This will last approximately two years and during this time, Naruto will be staying in a forest away from Konoha and the five great villages.

Silence followed. Naruto and Tsunade waited for her reaction.

"This can't be true" she finally whispered "This just can't be true! What about Naruto? Have you asked him?"

"Naruto has already agreed. Actually it was his idea. I'm very sorry Sakura."

She stood there looking both of them speechless. "But...then what about your friends Naruto-kun? What about me?" she locked her eyes with his waiting for an answer. "What about us?"

Tears found their way and run on her cheeks. He stared at her numbly. He knew he would face this kind of reaction. Sakura seemed strong to the others but he knew how vulnerable she could be. In the end, he made a couple steps forward and put her in his arms. She with her turn put her arms around his neck and hugged him. No one said anything, no one wanted to hurt her more. Only her sobs echoed in the office. He pulled her close to him as not wanting to let her go. She placed her head on his bare chest and heard the rhythm of the beat of his heart. He rested his head on the top her head and teased her hair.

"Please don't cry Sakura-chan.

The battle in him had ended. Happiness lost, it was overwhelmed by sadness that filled his heart. She pulled softly back and looked in his eyes.

"I want to come with you" she said determined"

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan but this is not possible"

"Why? I want to be with you Naruto-kun"

"The village needs you Sakura and besides you might get hurt if you come"

"I don't care! I want to" she protested

"But I do! I won't forgive myself if anything happened to you because of me. I'm sorry but you can not come with me."

"You don't want me to be with you?"

"You know very well that I don't mean anything like that. I'd loved to be with you. You just can't come"

"At least will I be able to visit you?"

He turned his gaze to the Hokage. Her lips formed a small smile telling him it was okay. He then turned his attention back to the konoichi that stood in front of him

"Of course Sakura-chana1 I'll be glad to have visits from you!" a grin appeared on his face. The usual grin that made you forget everything. A faint smile appeared on her face. "I guess it's settled then" he said her but his grin disappeared.

"Since we have decided what we will do get out of my office" Tsunade ordered "AND PUT SOMETHING ON YOU" she yelled at Naruto.

"But obaa-chan it's too hot!" he complained

"Do I look like I care?" flames appeared in her eyes

Naruto seeing her sensed the danger "Anyway, we were leaving weren't we?"

He grabbed Sakura by her wrist and ran outside. After a few minutes of running they stopped near the river to catch their breath. They stood there watching the water of the river steaming and the light of the sun reflected on in. The birds sang along with it and made a beautiful music. Butterflies moved from the one flower to the other and their multicolored wings shone under the shining sun.

"What places have you visited this time Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked still looking at the scenery.

"Not anything special. There are some beautiful places but no place is like Konoha. I always like it best whenever I'm here and I feel like that not only because this is Konoha but because of other beauties someone might meet here" he said turning his gaze towards her.

"Baka..." a punch reached his face

"What did I say? You barely hold your laugh back! Not to mention that you became red like a tomato!"

"NARUTO!!!" she yelled and ran after him. He seeing her so angry started to ran for his life. They both acted just like young children, just like they acted so many years ago. But none of them bothered. They weren't together often and they treasured every minute of their time.

After some time of running all over Konoha they sat under a tree to rest.

"It's so hot!" Naruto complained

"What are you complaining about? At least you don't wear a shirt!"

"Why don't you take it off too then? I don't see any reason for not to do it"

She sighed "Did you have to become so much like Jiraya and Kakashi-sensei?" she asked when she saw the perverted look on his face.

"Just kidding!"

"I know...but I also know that you would loved to take off my shirt"

"Sakura-chan, all this running made me hungry. What about going to Ickiraku's ramen?"

"I guess I'm kinda hungry too, but it will be your treat, I don't want my purse to empty with just a meal!"

Naruto made a hurt look "Come on! I don't eat that much!"

"Yes, you do, don't deny it! Anyway if we start arguing again we will stay here till tomorrow morning, so let's go"

"Yosh!"

"Okay old man! Give me another bowl!" the blond man said

"I thought you don't eat 'that much' but you have already eaten 15 bowls of ramen!"

"I haven't eaten good ramen for ages"

"..."

"Yo!" a voice came from behind them

"Kakashi-sensei!" the blue-eye-man said enthusiastically when he saw a certain silver haired jounin entering the small shop

"Long time, no see right Naruto?" he said closing the green he was holding

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei I have a present for you!"

"A present? You didn't bring me a present and you brought to him?" Sakura asked annoyed

"Don't worry Sakura-chan it's not anything special. Besides I brought a present for you too!"

"Really?" hope filled her

"I brought you myself, what better than that?"

"Such creativity" she said frowning

"Anyway, here it is" he said giving a blue book to Kakashi.

He watched stunned, his eyes wide as possible. "This...this... I thought Jiraya stopped writing! How can this be true?"

"Ero-sennin lost inspiration, I guess he became old and girls caught him more and more peering. I think he was send to the hospital once too. I'm not saying he has become weak, he still is strong. The only thing known is that he doesn't have any other ideas (if that is possible) and quit writing. So I decided to continue his work. Even though I have written some chapters of his books, this is the first time I write something so big. I don't know if it is as good as his books but I think it's pretty good! I thought you would like to read. You are the first, it's still unpublished!"

Kakshi's eyes suddenly became even bigger. "Something so precious"

"Please..." Sakura commented

"You obviously don't understand just how valuable this is. The Icha Icha series to be continued, that's the best news I've heard for some time! My precious" he said caressing the book

"..."

"I've just remembered I have to go somewhere. Ja"

"But you just came!" Naruto said

"Unfortunately it's very important"

"Yes, reading a book is very important" Sakura said bored

The sun made slowly his way to the west behind the mountains. The people of Konoha returned home from their work. Soon the lights of the houses lighted the whole are just like the small uncountable stars that appeared on they dark sky accompanied by a brig bright moon. Two figures stood on the Hokage monument and particularly between the hair of the Fourth Hokage.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" she whispered

"I always liked it up here" the blond man answered

"The view is magical!"

"Not as magical as you" he said turning to her

"Baka"

He prepared himself for the pain he would feel by her strong punch but instead he felt her warm soft lips on his

"But you are my baka" she whispered to him and smiled

He smiled too and captured her lips again...

**A/N: ** Well, what do you think? Please review and tell me your opinions. Thanks for reading


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for not updating sooner but it was difficult because of school.

Kuyeng13: I'm happy you are so eager to find out what will happen next. I won't say when, but he will find out about him soon.

**DISCLAIMER:** Naruto does not belong to me. If it did, it wouldn't be so good.

**Chapter 5**

Time flows fast when you don't want something to end. That's how she felt. How could two days pass so fast? He would be with her another day, just one day more. And then? Then he would be gone for two long years. She didn't want to let him go but there was no choice. He would never agree to stay at the village, no if there was even the slightest risk to hurt the ones he loved. The fact was, that the chances weren't few, it would be inevitable. The charka was just too much. No one could control it. Thus he had to go…

She opened her eyes and found a blond young man sleeping next to her. He was sleeping so peacefully that it was hard to believe that this man had killed so many in his missions, that he was hated so much without even doing anything wrong. He was wearing nave blue underpants. He had his arms encircled around her slim waist. His breath was slow and steady, nothing like the heavy ones during his battles. She watched his bare chest going up and down. She ran her fingers along his face, feeling his features. Suddenly two big blue eyes opened and watched her. A small gasp left her mouth. He smiles and kissed her smooth lips.

"Good morning Sakura-chan" he said yawning

"Good morning Naruto-kun" she said and placed her head on his chest and her arms around him. He buried his face in her hair and smelled the soft cherry smell. She pushed lightly back to face him.

"Do you want breakfast?"

"Sure, I feel like I haven't eaten anything for centuries!"

"Naruto, you ate 20 bowls of ramen last night"

"I said I feel"

"Whatever, it's time to get up don't you think?"

"I think you are right" he said when he saw the bright sun outside creeping in the room through his window. It's almost noon!"

"It's 11:30 to be exact"

"How do you know that?"

"I don't make predictions based on the place of the sun. I prefer to see the clock, it's much easier and precise" she said grinning

"Cheater" he whispered

"BUT I WANT RA-MEN" his voice could be sounded perfectly from outside

"I DON'T CARE. YOU WILL EAT FRUITS"

"BUT I HATE THEM!"

"IT'S UNHEALTHY TO EAT RAMEN EVEN FOR BREAKFAST"

"I THINK IT'S FINE"

"WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO EAT WHEN YOU GO TO THAT FOREST?"

He didn't say anything more. It was the first time to talk about it. Since their 'talk' at Tsunade's office, none of them had ever mentioned it. It was the third and final day, he would leave the next day. However they had silently agreed not to mention it. They had had only three days and they wanted to pass their time without thinking of it. Even his friends didn't know he was leaving. Actually he didn't even meet them since his arrival. They sure knew that Kyuubi was sealed inside of him but none of them knew about the 'control' problems.

"I'll have fruits then" he said

"Naruto I didn't mean anything, you can have ramen if you want" she quickly responded when she saw the sadness and the pain on his face and mostly in his eyes.

"No, its okay Sakura-chan, you are right. I'll mostly eat fruits for the next two years so I better get used to them"

"What about having both of them?"

"Alright" he said not wanting to argue anymore.

They ate in silence. Then they washed the dishes and put them in the cupboard.

They walked down the street. They didn't exchange any words, they just enjoyed the company of the other, lost in their own thoughts.

"When will you tell them?" Sakura broke the silence. He didn't answer right away but she didn't press him. She waited patiently for his answer.

"I will tell them today"

"What time of the day?"

"When the time comes"

She frowned. His answers weren't exactly precise. Watching her, a smile appeared on his face.

"Come on stop teasing me Naruto-kun! Tell me! I'm serious"

"Yeah right"

"I am!" she protested but didn't managed to keep her laughter back

"Actually, I'm going to tell them in a while"

"???" she stopped laughing

"Obaa-chan told me that they will all gather in the training grounds to train together for the old's time sake. Really why didn't you tell me you were going?"

"Because I wouldn't go"

"Why, did anything wrong happen while I was missing?" he said and stopped to walk

"Don't be silly. I was supposed to go on a mission but since you came I asked Tsunade-sama to give it to someone else"

"Oh!"

"Come on, let's go"

Several figures appeared behind the trees. They were all talking or laughing excitedly

"Hey guys!" Sakura said. They all turned to look who had come and stared at Naruto

"Long time, no see Naruto" Shikamaru said

"Yeah, it has been some time and unfortunately I'll be away for two more years"

"Why, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. He opened his mouth to say something but…

"SOME TIME" Ino yelled

"Always short tempered right Ino"

"I'm not short tempered at all!" she protested but everyone sweatdropped at her comment. "You are the one who didn't think of Sakura when you were gone!"

"Ino-chan, it's alright" Sakura said calmly

"No, it's not alright. He wasn't here for five months! And not only that but he will leave again for two years! That's ridiculous. When are you leaving?" she turned her gaze to him

"Tomorrow"

"TOMORROW? When did you plan to tell us? But most importantly why the heck are you leaving?"

"Ino-chan calm down. He was about to tell you!"

Ino said something but he didn't listened. His head hurt, his temper was rising fast. It wasn't good, definitely not good. He closed his ears with his hands, trying to prevent her words and shut his eyes concentrating, trying to calm down. He felt Kyuubi's energy. No, he couldn't let the energy to come out, he could control it. He was strong, he could do it, he just had to calm down. He took a couple big breaths. Air filled his lungs but it wasn't working. The others understood that something was wrong and stared at him unable to do anything.

He couldn't keep it in, not anymore. The charka was just too much. Red energy surrounded his body. It spread through the whole area around him, destroying everything in its path. Naruto opened his eyes. Red crimson color replaced his once blue eyes. His hands left his head and rested to his sides. He turned his gaze to his comrades. They could see the wrath in his eyes. Yet when they looked hard enough, they could see sadness, pain but worst of all the desperation of the young man to control the power that left his body. Sakura screamed his name and tried to approach him. But she got hid from the deadly charka. She screamed pained. Naruto seeing her tried to control Kyuubi again. His body was already bleeding from several places. Not only he was destroying his home and his friends that now were forced to flee to save themselves and watch him from a distance, he was also killing himself. He let out a scream, even though it was much more like a growl.

He kneeled to the ground and placed his hands on his head again. He growled again. He had to stop it. The area around him was nothing like it was a few minutes before. Soon ninjas would come to stop him sent by Tsunade. No, it wasn't there job to stop him. Kyuubi was sealed inside of him and he held full responsibility of him. He would be the one to stop him not the other ninjas. He would do it with his will power. It wasn't a battle of strength but of will. He focused and appeared in the familiar dark corridors of his mind. He walked determined and after some time he reached the cage where Kyuubi was sealed. Energy leaped from the cage uncontrollable.

"_Damn you, you bastard fox!" _he yelled. "_Stop the charka right now!"_ he commanded struggling to stay there because the energy created a great force which pushed him back. He put his arms in front of his face to protect himself and yelled again "_Do it now!_"

"_I can't"_ Kyuubi said "_but even if I could, I wouldn't do it. It feels so good! It's been a long time since I last released so much energy_"

"_Why can't you do it?"_

"_As you know, I am dying. Your 'great' Forth Hokage used a seal that will eventually kill me and my charka will be yours. Unfortunately my body is already being destroyed. But my charka is here and my body is weak to keep it back, so you have to stop it yourself._"he said and laughed maniacally.

Naruto stood still, and then raised his hands at the height of his shoulders. He closed his eyes and called his energy. In the beginning nothing happened but after a few seconds, the area started to shake. A blue wave of charka appeared behind him and passed above him. Like a river of water, it rushed to the cage, preventing the red one to come out.

But it wasn't the end…

The charka of the demon wasn't one to be underestimated. It pushed back the blue one. The two great forces pushed with all their might, trying to win. Naruto screamed and a new wave of charka appeared behind him and crushed on the red one. Finally, the energy of Kyuubi started to retreat inside the cage. Naruto was exhausted but he had done it. He had stopped Kyuubi before it was too late. He opened his eyes and saw a white light. Then he returned to the real world again.

A group of ninjas watched stunned the young blond man falling on the ground exhausted but most of all hurt. Sakura screamed his name and ran towards him. Someone caught her wrist to stop her but she managed to escape. She kneeled beside the bleeding shinobi and called his name again. She saw his wounds healing in front of her eyes. At least he still had that ability. But it was slow, slower than it used to be. She did some hand seals and a green glow appeared around her hands. She placed them on his wounds and healed him. Soon she finished and watched him opening his eyes and standing up. He was tired she could see that.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan" he said sadly

"There is nothing to be sorry about. Let's go home Naruto-kun" she said quietly.

He nodded and followed her as she made her way through the confused ninjas that stood there. He only glanced at Ino once but never turned his gaze towards them again.

They saw Naruto and Sakura leaving the training grounds. They all knew know the reasons of Naruto's departure. They all looked at Ino.

"What? What have I done?" she asked

"I think you know exactly what you have done" Shikamaru said.

She sighed "Yeah, you are right. I was so cruel with him and I didn't even know why he was leaving. I didn't even let him explain himself. I yelled at him and it wasn't his fault."

"Don't worry Ino-chan" Hinata said softly. "You didn't know. You took some fast conclusions but that's not the point. You have to go and apologize to him. In fact we should all go."

"What? Why should we go? We didn't do anything wrong?" Kiba protested.

"Maybe, but we didn't interfere either Kiba. Besides, Naruto has to leave because of Kyuubi, but we don't know exactly why" Tenten said

"And not only that" Choji continued "he said he was leaving tomorrow. We should go and tell him goodbye. We won't be seeing him for a long time. Visiting him is the least we can do"

"Okay, okay, I got it, we will go and apologize to him"

"It's settled then" Neji said

"Yosh! Let's go" said an overexcited Lee

"How troublesome"

"…"

"Hokage –sama, I am here to report about the event at the training grounds and Naruto as you have ordered."

"Whatever, just tell me what happened" the blond woman said to a ninja

"It seems, Naruto, for yet unknown reasons lost controlled of Kyuubi. He created a crack of about 300 radiant. Fortunately there were no sever injuries and no deaths"

"That's good. How long did it last?"

"Not even a minute"

"In less than a minute, it caused so much destruction!" she said with widened eyes

"What should I do madam?"

"Where is he now?"

"They saw him leaving the area with your apprentice"

"That means, they are at her house"

"Should I bring him here?"

"No I'll go myself."

"But, it might be dangerous"

"Dangerous?"

"Being around the Kyuubi boy"

"IF YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT DO NOT ENTER AGAIN THIS ROOM. NOW GET OUT. I'LL GO ALONE!" she yelled

"Yes madam" he said scared and left the room. She sighed; her eyes gazed at the scenery outside.

"Shizoune, take Tonton, we are going to Sakura's"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama"

His eyes looked at the floor. He sat on the sofa and watched…nothing. He was lost in his thoughts. The young woman sat on a chair opposite of him and watched him silently. She wanted to say so much to him; that it wasn't his fault and Kyuubi was to be blamed. That he shouldn't be so hard with himself and everything would be alright. But she didn't say anything. She just sat there and watched him.

Someone knocked the door. She stood up and opened it.

"Tsunade-sama! What are you doing here?"

"Where is he?"

She led them to him and offered them to sit.

"It's alright. I don't want to sit"

She watched him. She saw his big, blue eyes. They were red from his efforts to hold his tears back. The last time she had seen him so sad was when he failed to retrieve Sasuke. She couldn't see him like this. The man sitting in front of him wasn't the Naruto she knew. This man was depressed.

"Naruto…" she said softly, but she didn't know what to say next. She just watched him with Sakura and Shizune next to her. The tree of them sighed and sat opposite of him.

The doorbell rang again. Sakura stood up once more and opened the door. All their friends were there. Ino stood in front of all of them. She looked like she had regretted her previous words.

"We want to see him and I … I want to apologize to him"

"This way" the pink-hair woman said.

They saw him sitting on the sofa and the two other women opposite of him. They all stared at him. He didn't seem to care though. This man was certainly not the one they all knew. When Naruto was sad, he lost his light and when his lost his light, it was like the sun itself had no light to give anymore.

"NARUTO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THERE?" Ino screamed.

Everyone froze. They definitely didn't expect something like that. Even Naruto was shocked and looked at her wide eyed.

"You are not the Naruto I know! The Naruto I know wouldn't get depressed because of something like that. Okay, I yelled at you, I was wrong, I know and I'm sorry. And then you lost control. So what? The Naruto I know would never give up. He would train hard to control that damn fox. So tell me. Are you the Naruto I know…we know? Or someone else?"

Everyone went silent and waited for Naruto's reaction. Laughter filled the room. Soft at the beginning but it became stronger later. It was a laugh; they all longed to hear again. The sun shone again.

"Thanks Ino, thank you for reminding me who I am. I can't believe I had given up so easily. Don't worry about before, I forgive you. Besides, I was missing for five months, it was my fault. Don't even think about it. Thank you. Thank all of you."

"But we didn't do anything…" Choji said.

"Of course you did. You all came here. That means you believed in me and wanted to support me. I am very grateful. Thank…"

A noise distracted everyone.

"NARUTO" a voice came "I've just found out about the accident. Are you…" the rushing man stopped at the door. He was panting. Sweat run across his face wetting his mask "…okay?" he said surprised with all those people gathered in the room.

"Don't worry Kakashi-sensei, everything is alright now"

"Whew, I was dead worried" he said relived

"I know Kakashi-sensei and thanks for that"

The man looked around and when he was convinced that there was no problem, he took out his blue small book.

"I shall be going then. If you need me, don't hesitate to ask me. Oh! By the way Naruto, the book is pretty good. You are a good writer. Ja ne!" and left the apartment walking with his face buried in his precious book.

Naruto just grinned, but stopped when he saw the angered face of Tsunade.

"Hey obaa-chan, are you feeling good?"

"When Kakashi said about your book. Is it a Jiraya style?"

"Hehehe… well… goodbye and thanks everyone" he said quickly and jumped out of the window to save himself from a devil looking Tsunade. The others just stared and then everyone burst in laughter.

Someone opened the door.

"Naruto! Are you okay? I just found out"

"You are a tad late Iruka-sensei, he just left" Sakura managed to say between her giggles.

The sun was barely visible on the horizon. The air was warm and it would get hot when the sun came out. A group of people stood at the gates of Konoha. A blond young man stood in front of them, with his back turned towards the woods, facing them. They were all sad. He was leaving and they wouldn't see him for two years. But he had to go, there was no choice. The incident of the previous day was a prove that he had to be isolated from the other people. His control would get wore, much worse. He had to be alone.

Alone…

How much he hated that word. He had lived most of his child hood alone. He was used to loneliness, but he hated it and he had to endure it for two more years.

A pink-hair woman hugged him tight. She couldn't hold her tears back. But she didn't care. He was leaving. She would be alone without him. But she had to be strong for him. He pulled back and watched her in her eyes. He rubbed smoothly her cheek, wiping her tears away and smiled sadly at her. Then, he took off the necklace that hanged on his neck and put it n her hand.

"I will be back for it Sakura-chan. That's a promise." He kissed her and waved to the others. "And don't forget to put a flower once in a while". She nodded understanding his words and said goodbye.

Then he turned and left. The first rays of the sun shone along with his hair as he was walking towards the forest. He turned and saw them one more time, trying to remember every detail of them.

They all waved…goodbye. The waved to their sun, because they wouldn't see him again for two long years…


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for not updating for so long, I'll try to write more often especially now that schools are finally over

**DISCLAIMER:** Naruto does not belong to me. If it did, it wouldn't be so good.

**Chapter 6**

_Those stupid birds woke me up again_. I was seriously wondering if the walls of that dungeon were especially designed to let the singing of the birds enter the room just to annoy the prisoners. No other sound came from outside.

I was bored; there was nothing to do in there. My cell was so small I couldn't even train there. The only thing possible was thinking. Any other time I would be glad to have time to think. I couldn't do such thing the previous years. Woods are not the safest place to let my guard down. So every time I had had the chance (which was very rare) I liked to sit on the highest branch of a tall tree to relax and think about… everything.

I wasn't able to do so though. For once after a long time I was not worried about my safety. Nobody could hurt me there. Yet I couldn't free myself from the real world and just stay with myself in my own little world. The reason is simple… I didn't want to. Even thinking made me feel like a fool. I couldn't take my mind off her and particularly her words. The whole story she said actually.

_I am such a fool. Naruto is somewhere out there and I am trapped in jail! _That's not even the worst part. I felt…worried, worried about him. I was _wondering why? I hate him, he holds me back. Why the hell so I feel like that?_ I was getting softer and I felt sick with my own self, even more than before.

If that's even possible…

It had been…I don't know…two, three days since then. They brought us food six times since then. They brought a plate at morning, one at noon and one at night. All of them full with food.

If you can call that thingfood.

It sure was disgusting. Even I could cook better and believe me, my cooking is something I can't be proud of. Anyway I'm out of the point.

It had been two days since she had visited me. It felt more though, much more. _I can't believe how wide my eyes became when she was telling me what had happened._ I hadn't intended to look so surprised but I really was. Not only he was away while I was in Konoha, he was also getting stronger.

_Naruto has always been strong; his stamina unmatchable, his speed was increasing day by day and the pure strength of his is certainly something you must not underestimate. The only thing he lacks is brains. But even his way of thinking was improving. Akatsuki had been after him for a long time and his attempts to bring me back had made him to think more strategically. Not to mention he is getting older, he will mature eventually, if he hasn't already. And now…he is also getting all the energy of Kyubi! He will become a monster! _

_I am strong, I am considered an S criminal and my name is written in all the bingo books. There are laws between the ninjas saying that if they meet me somewhere and they are alone, they should immediately run away. My power is not only physical; with the Sharigan I am able to terrify them just with activating. My bloodline limit is one of the strongest after all and I am the only one to have it, at least have it to both of my eyes. _Yet I didn't know if I was stronger than him. Our strength had always been similar but now I wasn't sure anymore.

So I was sitting in my cell trying not to think about all of these and pass my enormous free time because Tsunade and the elder's council couldn't make a decision about me.

I believe it is needless to say that all my efforts to not think failed.

A sharp noise interrupted my thoughts which I was trying not to have. Was it lunch time again? I heard two pairs of feet coming towards the area my cell was. The one definitely belonged to one of the guards; he was the one who gave us food everyday so I could recognize his steps everywhere. The other one was unknown to me though. His or hers steps where light like a feather like he wasn't touching the floor at all. That person was undoubtedly a ninja and a strong one too. Where they coming for me? Who could visit me? Sakura had already come and those footsteps weren't the same with hers.

The steps became louder and louder each passing second. Then they finally came to view. But still, I didn't know who it was. He was a man, or that's what his body looked like under the cloak he wore. They both stopped in front of my cell, both of them confronting me. But I couldn't see his face; a hood covered it, his head was slightly bending down and even though he seemed to look at the ground, I felt his intense gaze on me. He was watching me from the top to the bottom; he was studying me like he wanted to confirm that I really was the one he wanted to see.

"He is in there" the guard said showing me like the stranger hadn't already seen me. I guess he just didn't know what else to say. Then he left. _Why is he leaving? And who is that man to be here without any guard observing us? Even the apprentice of the Hokage herself doesn't have such right. They took me to another room supervised by the guards for Kami's sake. Who the heck is this man to have such authority?_

The seconds became minutes, I think but none of us made any move. I realized then that nobody else was making any noise. The chit chat the prisoners usually had between them had stopped the moment this man and the guard came close. All of them watched us waiting to see what would happen. The stranger however stood there impassive just staring at me.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I finally asked calmly.

"Do you really not recognize me Sasuke?"

That voice was so familiar, but who was he? And then it clung. I knew who he was! I tried not to show my surprise but I didn't manage to.

He slowly lifted his arms and brought his hands to his hood and pulled it awfully slowly back. The first thing visible was his hair; blond like the bright sun and messy licking his shoulders, covering slightly his eyes; blue and deep like the ocean shining under the yellow maze. Then I saw a familiar grin, so wide that only one person in the world could manage…Naruto.

"Well, I sure am worthy of congratulations. I don't think that anyone else could make you stay with your mouth open from the shock" I immediately closed my mouth which I hadn't realized I had wide open and heard him chuckle. Soon I recovered from the shock though

"What are you doing here?" I barely kept the happiness that I felt for some reason "and what happened to your whisker marks?"

"Always to the point. You haven't changed at all Sasuke. My whisker marks are gone for a while now. Hmm… you mustn't have a good time here. I mean there are too many people around and you don't enjoy being in crowded places" he said while looking around.

I stood up and went right in front of him. I noticed that for the first time in all of our meetings he almost as tall as I was. There had been some years of course since I last saw him but our difference wasn't even one inch. I locked my eyes with his and activated my Sharigan.

He just snorted

"You know, something like that won't work on me. Or… are you looking for Kyubi?" he responded sternly.

With that I deactivated it immediately. Really, what was my purpose? To scare him? him from all the people? That was not possible. Naruto was the only person whom I was not able to scare. Through the years people were afraid of me. They were actually terrified of me because I was turning into a monster. But he, he was never afraid of me, he was rather afraid for me; worried that something might happen to me. He was after all a monster himself, a monster with a big heart, something that I didn't have. That was always our difference. We were always so much alike yet so much different.

I looked straight at his eyes again. We were both silent, just staring to each other, checking each other.

"I'm glad you are here" he broke the silence like always._ Of course he is glad. He doesn't know I am here to kill him._

"Hn" was my only answer but we both knew that it was a positive answer. We had known each other for long so he knew what I meant every time.

"So what happened to your 'exciting' life and you decided to come at Konoha?"

"I guess I missed home"

"Yeah, right!"

"Do you doubt me?"

"What do you think?"

"Has your brain suddenly grown?"

"No Sasuke, I'm not the 'dump' and naïve kid I used to be, you just weren't her to know I've changed over the years."

An awkward silence engulfed both of us and again I noticed that all the prisoners were looking at us like watching a TV show waiting to find out what will happen next in a stupid show or something like that.

I let out a heavy sigh and turned my attention back to him.

"Don't worry; I don't expect you to apologize or anything. You haven't answered my question though. Why did you return?" it was more a requirement than a question

"I can't tell you" I said simply

"Sakura-chan says it involves me. She said you asked too many questions about where I was"

_Was I asking so many questions to be so obvious? But it is Sakura we were talking about so it makes sense. _

"Do you believe her?"

"Yes I trust her. Is it again bout those… how do you call them? Oh yeah…bonds. Severing our bonds, am I right?

I didn't say a thing. What could I tell him? I'm here to kill you? It's too lame. They both of them knew me too well. They could read me like an open book.

"Should I take your silence as a yes? he broke the silence again. "You know, you shouldn't be surprised about the fact I know your reasons of returning. Every time we meet is about cutting off those bonds Sasuke. I thought you would understand by now; they are too strong to break"

_Is it the true? Is it true that I'll never be able to cut those bonds?_

You haven't answered my question either. Why are you here and why were you late?"

"Trying to change the subject huh?"

"Hn"

"Very well, besides I have all the information I wanted. I was late because I wanted to ensure that we were fully merged"

"Hn" _how can he say it so easily with all those people around him? They don't even know the exact reasons for his absence from the village for these two years._

"Such a variety of words!" he exclaimed sarcastically

"Whatever. You answered only the second part of the question. Why are you here?"

"To visit an old friend. Is to wrong to do so?"

I didn't answer right away. Besides this question's purpose was to give me time to think about his previous answer. His explanation about being late just wasn't convincing. _Okay Naruto is the type whose first priority is the safety of all the others so it was a good reason. Then why when he said it, he looked down. It was just for a brief moment and I'm sure he thought I didn't notice it but he did break our connection with our eyes._

"Was the merge successful?"

I saw his eyes widening with surprise; he didn't expect such question. Soon though his composure returned

"Yes…yes it was, why?" he said confused with my question

"Are you sure?"

"Are you implying that I'm lying?" he said in disbelief "I thought you trusted me!"

_Any other case I would comment the words he used. Really since when does he use such words? I guess his is right I wasn't here all this time so I don't really know the new Naruto._

"As you said people change. And yes, I think you are hiding something, dobe" _it has been a long time since I last use that word for him. _I enjoyed making him angry. _Just like the old good time. Wait a minute did I just missed the kind of relationship I had with him all those years ago? Anyway this is not the time for such thoughts.\_

I watched the features of his face as different passed. First shock and disbelief, then sadness-for what I didn't know though I didn't like to see Naruto sad and then anger.

I knew I was pushing him. He was hiding something and he didn't want to reveal it. Unfortunately, the more he insisted that he was saying the truth the more it meant that it was bad, really bad.

His rage was rising in him. I didn't give him a 'warm' welcome to say the truth even though I don't think he was expecting one. The problem was that I didn't believe him. Our relationship was not 'perfect', others would say that there is no relation at all. That was not true though; we both acknowledge and believe each other, there was trust in there, no other knew of course but we knew and it was enough. As he had said before our bonds were to strong to break, deep inside we were still friends. The difference was that there was no other rivalry like ours.

So as you can imagine doubting was a low blow, under his belt to be exact.

I felt killing intent coming from his body but it was low, he could still control his feelings although not completely.

"WHY NO ONE BELIEVES ME?" he asked sadly, louder than before.

_Did he just say no one? That means I'm not he only one _

"Who are you talking about?" I asked as calmly as possible

"I talked to obaa-chan before and discussed it with her. Even Sakura-chan seemed to not believe me"

"Seemed to not believe you?"

"You know, she had that look that means I'm thinking of your words." I was going to enjoy this. Making someone mad was something I really liked and Naruto was not going to be an exception. Not to mention that it was a way to find out why the heck he was late; when Naruto was angry, he was a very good source of information. Everything just slipped like flowing water.

"Even your 'little' girlfriend doesn't believe you Naruto?"

"She is not my 'little' girlfriend Sasuke" he growled "she is also my best friend"

"I thought I was your best friend" for some reason it bothered me to know that Sakura had taken my place.

"As you said, you were my best friend. Not anymore"

"That must be a miracle. Are you sure she loves you? I continued the mocking putting aside the feeling of betrayal I felt from him "Are you sure she loves you more than a friend?"

"What do you mean?" he was confused, I knew it and I was about to press a sensitive area.

"I'm saying that if for example I go and tell that I like her or something like that, she won't let you for me?"

"Bastard! You would do it, wouldn't you, just to annoy me. Well" he continued more calmly than before which showed that he was sure about his words "she wouldn't let me for you. A decade ago, she would gladly do it, but not anymore."

I was losing ground; the new Naruto didn't let me to corner him like I could easily to before. I had lost episodes of the development of his personality and character. I had to find a way to turn things my way.

"I don't think so, I mean she doesn't even believe you" that was lame. Actually the whole argument was foolish but I had to know the reason.

"Oh so we've turned to that subject again!" he said angrily. I guess he is too sensitive about the trust between us.

"Come on Naruto, say it, you are hiding something, don't deny it" I was getting impatient. _I am trying to extract the damn information for so long and nothing is getting from this._

"NO!"

"TELL ME!" Ι commanded bitterly.

"HELL NO SASUKE, Ι would never tell you what's going on"

"SO THERE IS SOMETHING GOING ON" none of us could keep his anger back anymore. For a moment I wondered what was he thinking but as I figured out, only anger about me was the only possible answer

"MAYBE, BUT I WON'T TELL YOU" we reached the phase to yell at each other in front of tens of stunned prisoners who couldn't believe that the 'great' Uchiha was fighting like a child. Seeing me lose my composure was a rare sight.

"WHY? TELL ME" what did he wanted me to do? Beg him, hell no!

"I SAID NO. I DON'T TRUST YOU ANYMORE" I felt his anger building in his chest, his killing intent was strong. He didn't affect me much but I started to release mine to confront his. The prisoners were terrified; the pressure by the deathly aura that radiated from our bodies was that great that most of them were shaking. I'm not sure but I think that a couple of them lost consciousness. For me and Naruto was not something great, none of us had a single drop of sweat on our faces. We didn't want to kill each other just to make the other to back off first.

Naruto sensing my energy decided to increase his. I was about to do the same when I saw his eyes widening and suddenly all of his energy was gone. I dropped mine too and called his name. He immediately put his hood on to hide his face and felt his gaze leaving me. For some reason he was hurt. But the energy we used wasn't much! Why?

I was ready to ask him what was going on when he coughed like he was chocking. He turned his back to be to prevent me to look at him but I was able to catch a glimpse of something red which I was sure it was the color of his eyes. He was bending down clutching his belly tightly and I could hear his teeth grinding from the pain. I called his name again concerned but there was no response. I was very worried.

Finally he straightened his back and I let a breath I was unconsciously holding.

"Sasuke, for me you are not the person you used to be. I don't trust you. Once I would tell you but not anymore."

I opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off again.

"I wasn't the one who chose this kind of relation between us. I always considered you as my brother. Remember that Sasuke"

With that he started to leave. I didn't say anything. I was hurt by his words but his was right, it was my entire fault, everything could be different. I watched his cloak waving behind him as he rushed to the exit.

I didn't move. For quite a time I was too shocked too move a muscle. After a few seconds that felt like an eternity I turned my gaze to the spot where he was standing not long ago like expecting him to reappear there somehow.

But I was shocked even more, if it was possible when I saw a few drops of fresh blood lying on the floor. After all this argument the only I had managed was to confuse myself even more. _Just what the hell is going on?_ That had to change and there was only one way to get out of this jail and find. _This is happening tonight… _

Not exactly tonight but at the next chapter…

Well what do you think? Review to let me know. Oh and I posted two poems one about Naruto and one about Kakashi an I am planning to post one about the thoughts of Sasuke about Itachi tonight or tomorrow soplease if you are kind enough read them.


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** Naruto does not belong to me. If it did, it wouldn't be so good.

**Chapter 7**

It was a relatively cold night for Konoha. The silence enveloped everything. All the villagers were sleeping peacefully and the guards were watching for enemies on the border lines unaware of the events that were going to be held inside. Even our steps were so soft that only a strong ninja would be able to hear them and that was possible only if he concentrated hard. But it was a time of peace, so except the few guards who did their usual patrols, had let their guards down and slept with the feeling of safety.

The rustle of the leaves along with the singing of the water of a small river nearby which was more like a stream were the only sounds in the area. I felt the soft breeze in my hair and watched the fair hair of my 'companion' of my 'walk' playing with the air. Then I studied his face. He was calm, surprisingly calm like he knew something similar with this would happen for a long time.

Feeling my intensive stare, he broke the silence (like always)

"I told obaa-chan to have a better security system but she didn't listen"

"Hn"

_It was indeed much easier than I thought it would be to break out of the jail. The plan was simple, too simple someone would say but effective… _

When the guard came to bring me my food, I knocked him out with a simple hit on the back of his neck. What kind of guard is so easily hit? Don't ask me I'm wondering myself. I doubt he ranked above a chuunin. This peace thing had definitely had a bad influence on ninjas. All of them were so sure that because Konoha was the strongest village there was nothing to be afraid.

Not a wise thing to do…

Anyway, I just took the keys from his pants and passed them through the bars. After that, things were even easier. I unlocked the door and transferred the guard in the cell and locked him in. Then I walked to the front door. None of the prisoners made a sound. Were they afraid of me? I guess so… I opened the door with the keys and stepped outside. I passed the other guard who was sleeping on a chair in front of the door. Was his job to stop any prisoner from coming out? Konoha had surely become pathetic.

The 'difficult' part was over. It was time for the second stage, to find him. I detected his charka and started to follow it like a dog. Okay, not exactly like a dog… my charka detection skills weren't the best but they were good enough to find him. Besides, he was in my cell just a few hours ago. I still had a good feeling of his energy.

What happened next, I'm not exactly sure. Everything happened too fast. While I was searching for him he jumped in front of me, told me that he was waiting for me and scowled me for being late. Then he said to follow him to a place not too close to the village to not harm or destroy anyone or anything.

Now what do you make out of this? Naruto is different than before. He was smarter and could read me like an open book. He knew all along my intentions. And I thought that the old Naruto was annoying…

So as I was saying, I followed him to a place away from the village. We were walking like friends going to the park while in truth we were going somewhere to finish some old busyness. Only one of us would leave that place… the moon guided us with its faint light to a rather small clearing. The trees covered the sky and the whole area around us. The only 'clear' place was a circle with an about 20m diameter, in which we were standing. We stood facing each other and studied the area around us. I then noticed that we were in the training grounds. At the spot were team 7 used to train in particular. Anyone can imagine the irony.

"So it ends were it began" I said

"Is there really no other way to settle this?" he asked hoping to change my mind.

"No there isn't. You knew from the very beginning that all would end like this"

"This doesn't mean that I have to like it"

"Of course you don't like it, you are dying tonight"

"I know"

Now that was something I never thought he would say. Was he going to lose on purpose to not kill me? Would he sacrifice his life for mine? I couldn't let that happen. I wanted to kill him on a real fight were both of us would do his best and I would win fair and square. A fake win is not a win at all. Because in the end this fight was not really for me to cut our bonds but to prove who was the best.

"You are not going to hold back, do you hear me?" I demanded

"Don't worry I won't" he said smiling sadly. I didn't like that smile at all. That smile didn't belong to Naruto. My suspicions were higher than before but I didn't comment it.

I turned my attention back to our upcoming fight instead of the reasons of Naruto's strange behavior. I activated my Sharigan and locked my eyes with him. I'm sure that he, just like me, thought about all the time we passed together, as little children, as teenagers and now as full adults.

And in a mere second, everything began…

We both ran towards the other. Ninja usually use more sneaky methods but assassination was not our goal. I threw him some shuriken but he evaded them easily. I threw some more and I saw him jumping high. While being on the air it's difficult to make any movements, so I threw him a few more. One of them stamped him on his chest but he disappeared with a characteristic sound 'poof'.

He reappeared next to me and tried to land a kick on my face but I deflected it with my right arm. Then I stopped a punch coming with my left arm and kicked him to the stomach sending him to the air. He flipped though gracefully and sent me 3 kunai. When they came close to me however they multiplied and about 20 to 30 kunai came my way. I caught the first to and with them I deflected all the others.

In the meantime, he landed on a tree. I saw him making a series of hand's seals and I recognized them as seals of a water attack. I immediately started doing some too. Serpent, Dragon, Rabbit, Tiger…

The two dragons, one made of fire and one made of water crashed to each other creating a thick smoke which we used as a covering in order to prepare our next move.

We were just playing around to test the power of each other but soon we got lost in our fight. One punch succeeded another, the next just came right after the other. Small scratches turned to wounds, clothes laid on the ground ripped off us during the battle. Sweat covered us and created mud with the dust on our bodies.

The area was not ruled by silence anymore. The sound of metal clashing on metal, of metal piercing human skin, of fire burning the withered grass, of water wiping out the flames, of electricity crushing the ground, of wind slaying the tress, of the shaking earth, of our fast breath because of the need of more air in our lungs made a warlike music.

The fight continued for…I don't know how long, seconds…minutes…hours…Time had frozen, cause time didn't matter. This 'dance' was our last; time was not a matter of attention.

I didn't use the cursed seal and he didn't use the charka of Kyubi. Even thou the two of them had merged there was a different feeling when his was using the energy of his 'friend'. Kyubi's energy was cold and terrifying while Naruto's was warm and gentle. I guess we wanted this fight to be between us and without the help of outsiders.

He was stronger than ever, just like I had predicted. His strategies were unusual and thus difficult to read, but then again what else would someone expect from the number one surprising ninja of Konoha? He didn't use any genjustsu. Not that it passed from my mind that he would. He always sucked on genjustsu. However he had learned new moves and his ninjutsu list though not long had a variety from different elements. He mostly used wind attacks because he was wind nature of course. His taijutsu had improved dramatically. He had worked well on his speed and the element of surprised was on of the keys of his tactics.

Fortunately in the previous years I had learned new moves too. I mostly used fire and lightning jutsus but I used different elements too. My speed was as good as his and my little use of genjutsu and my Sharigan could match his stamina.

I blocked a punch and jumped backwards but just when I started doing some seals, I felt a kick on my back and saw the Naruto in front of me disappearing in smoke. It was difficult to know if the Naruto I was fighting with was the real one. He used his bushins all the time and made them to transform in various things around the area. The huge amount of energy he had also enabled him to use them for a long time. The one that kicked me had used henge to become a leaf on a tree.

For once again, simplicity showed its efficiency.

He landed one more punch on my face but it wasn't as strong as his previous ones. I had noticed that his attacked were becoming weaker and weaker each passing minute for some time. My suspicions returned again. Of course it didn't cross my mind for him to have the strength of Sakura but the last punch was relatively weak. Was he exhausted all ready? His stamina was supposed to exceed mine much but I wasn't that tired…

That's when I noticed his breath. It was sharp and too quick. In the beginning I thought it was because of the battle but my breath was way slower than his.

I felt pain on my arm and I realized I was thinking too much. I watched as a tornado full with chakra came closer to me and decided to move out of the way if I wanted to stay in one piece. I managed to evade but not without a few new scratches on my body. I immediately sent him a few lightning spheres but he blocked them with a wind barrier.

I saw him wincing with pain and I wondered again. Why did he feel hurt? He was wounded but nothing too serious. Even if they hurt he would be able to hide the pain. He was a shinobi after all…In addition, he wasn't hit by the last attack and it wasn't even that strong so he didn't use much energy to block it. However he looked deeply in pain. Why?

He began his next attack but I let my guard completely down. I just stood defenseless in the middle of the field lost in my thoughts. Fortunately he noticed my unwillingness for fight and he stopped his attack just in time to not hit me.

"Why did you stopped?" he asked confused "What's wrong?"

"I was supposed to ask this"

"What to you mean?"

"What's going on?" I wanted to know what the hell was going on with Naruto that exact moment.

"What do you mean? I don't understand what the heck you want to know"

"You know exactly what I mean. Why did you look so hurt right now? And come to think of it you look pained for some time now!"

"We were fighting Sasuke for Kami's sake. I'm full of wounds, it's only natural!"

"No it's not. None of your wounds it's major. Now tell me what's wrong. I'm sick of being unaware of the situation"

"Are you sure you want to know?" his voice became a whispered

"Damn it Naruto, I'm trying to convince to tell me for so long, what you think?" my voice dropped too

"I thought you would already figure it out"

"Figure out what? Don't play with me such games; you know I don't like them"

"Haven't you seen him with your Sharigan?"

"Seen him? who are y…" and then it clanged

I focused my eyes on Naruto and I saw him. I saw Kyubi no kitsune in him.

"But…but you said you had merged!"

"We are merged, or at least our chakras are merged. There were just some side effects, I f we can called them like that, that we didn't expect"

"What kind of side effects?"

"I thought you just saw them!"

"Naruto!" I growled

"Okay, okay, calm down. The seal was supposed to be designed so that I would merge with Kyubi as you already know"

"Supposed?"

"Will you let me finish this already? Stop interrupting me all the time!"

"Okay! Go ahead"

"As I was saying, kyubi was supposed to be gone and leave his energy to me. Obviously this did not happen. As you have seen he is still inside of me. Our chakra have been merged but for some reason he stayed"

"What's the problem with that? He was always in you, what's so different?"

"Well you see, now his energy belongs to me or at least as much energy as my body can take. I don't need to ask him for help anymore since it's mine. I guess he considers it as stealing his energy and he is kind of jealous you could say, so he is disturbing me all the time"

"Disturbing?"

"More like attacking me from the inside to destroy me as a 'punishment' or taking over my body…"

"What?"

"Heh…heh…heh" he just said scratching the back of his head

"Does anyone else know?"

"No"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I didn't want to"

"Why? Don't tell me it was I-don't-want-to-make-anyone-worry-about-me"

"Is something wrong with that?"

"No…it's just…"I released a heavy sigh "Are you sure he won't merge with you at the future?"

"Yes"

Neither spoke for a while

"Sasuke"

"Hmmm?"

"I want to show something"

"What?"

"I want to prove that I'm telling the truth"

"But I believe you"

"I don't care, I just want to show you. You've got a problem with that?" he said bitterly

"No"

"Good, now come into me"

"Huh?"

"I don't know how to call it. Don't you remember how you came to Kyubi's cage with your Sharigan the other time?"

"Oh that…you could explain it from the beginning dobe…"

"Why? What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing…" but my red cheeks gave me away

"Arrrrrrrrrrg….you are such a perverted! And then they call me one!'

"No I'm not. Besides, you could use other words" I said defending myself "You shouldn't use dirty words"

"I didn't know how it's called and there are no dirty words, just dirty minds. I don't remember who told me that though."

"Didn't know?" I asked avoiding his later statement "Does this mean that you now know?" I said smirking

"Teme…I bet you don't know that yourself!"

"Of course I know, it's called…um…well it's called…"

"See?" Darn he got me on that one

"Shut up!"

"Anyway are you coming or not?"

"Hn"

I appeared in the mind of Naruto and saw him standing next to me. I saw piles around us and a few paths.

"This way" he said

I followed him until we reached the cage of the great demon. I saw him hovering behind his bars and the tag writing 'seal'. This time something was different though. I saw marks on the walls around me made by claws and dried blood from place to place. The air was even colder than the previous time. Also the bars weren't in a good shape either. Parts were missing and the tag itself was torn on the edges.

"Nice decoration" I said sarcastically

"Hey, stupid fox" I heard Naruto yelling "I want to show Sasuke some certain memories, you know which I mean…"

"And why would I do that? You've got almost all my energy and can use it whenever you want. Why should I do anything else for you?"

"Let's just say it's a goodbye gift"

"Hmmm. Alright I don't see why not. A goodbye gift then." _A goodbye gift? But didn't Naruto sayt that Kyubi wasn't going to leave? I hope he doesn't hide anything else._ I was about to ask him but he anticipated me.

"Ready?" he turned to me

"Yeah" I answered uncertainly

Then a white dazzling light appeared and…

**A/N:** you'll find out next time!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **Naruto does not belong to me

**Chapter 8**

Was it a dream? It seemed like one but I was awake. I appeared somewhere, with the power of Kyubi. A dazzling white light covered everything. Actually nothing else existed there and it took me some time to get used to so much light. My gaze wandered around searching for anything other than white.

Suddenly Naruto appeared next to me magically. He just popped there just like a summoning, without the smoke though. He looked calm and like he had been there countless times. I asked him where we were but he didn't answer. Instead he instructed me to follow him. Where? I didn't know myself. We walked for a while but nothing appeared around us, just an endless white. I wondered if he walked randomly or somewhere in particular. All the area was the same. The look on his face however reassured me that he knew the way.

Silence covered everything. None of us said a word. Not even our steps were audible. Silence. Then I saw something ahead of us. I couldn't tell what it was but as we got closer I realized it was a door. It was quite tall and wide, it's color was grey, dark grey turning to black.

"What's behind it?" I asked curiously

"All my memories"

"Only your memories?"

"Yes, all the others are in different places"

"What do you mean?"

"When using this method to see what's inside someone's mind, everything are split in three. The past, the present and the future"

"How can it be possible to have a category 'future'?"

"Future is all of our dreams, past is all of our memories and present is actually out general thoughts about something that we have recently"

"I see. Are all of them behind doors?"

"Of course, most of people have three doors in there minds, one for each of them."

"Most of people?"

"Sharp as always Sasuke"

"Only a few people have more. I am one of them. I've got one more, Kyubi's door."

"And how did you know which way to go?"

"It's quite easy. Memories are at east, the beginning of life, just like the sun rises from the east."

"So I guess future is at west? With the ending of our life?"

"No, future is at south. South is warm just like our dreams. We all dream and hope for a better future"

"What if we know that our future is bad?"

"This doesn't count as dream. It is thought you have, it belongs to the present, at north, where the cold is stronger. Even if we know it's bad we hope something unexpected will come and the future will turn to good."

"This makes sense. What about west then?"

"West is empty. It's the place where the sun sets; it's the end, our death. Our death does not belong to our dreams" Naruto was serious. He was a happy man in general but when something required it he could become dead serious in just seconds.

"Where is Kyubi's door?"

"West" I didn't like his answer, it made me feel uneasy. Each passing minute the name Kyubi meant death even more. Death for Naruto.

"I see" I then looked again at the door in front of me and studied it for a while. I didn't like the color at all. It gave a bad feeling, though black was one of my favorite colors.

"Do all the doors have this color?" I finally asked.

I saw him frown a little "No, it depends on how bad it is."

"Bad?"

"My childhood was not the best. The worse the memories, the thoughts, the dreams the blacker is each door."

"I thought dreams are always good"

"They are good for the person that has them. How dark is future's door it depends on how bad the consequences of someone's dreams are to other people"

"Hn" I watched the door again and decided I hated its color. I realized then that the atmosphere was too tense and even though it was usually Naruto's place to do so I decided to lighten up our mood.

"Don't you ever get lost in here Naruto? I mean, you know that memories are at east, dreams at south and thoughts at north but let's face it, your sense of direction kinda sucks." A smile appeared on his face. It was small but it was there.

"Being here, is like being home. My mind is my home. Do you get lost at home Sasuke?"

"No I don't. But I could easily get lost in here."

"This is not your home Sasuke. This is mine. Do you get lost at Konoha?"

"Konoha is not my home." The moment I said it however I felt like lying.

"Whatever" he said with a smile that indicated that he knew I was lying. Konoha was home. I sighed heavily. At least I made him smile.

"Anyway what will you show me?"

"I won't show you everything of course, only some parts of my life that have something to do with Kyubi"

"But you said you were going to show me everything!"

"I've never said such thing. I said I was going to prove you that I am telling the truth about Kyubi"

"I've seen him, what other proof do I need? So show me your past" I said urgently

"I don't think my childhood, or my dates with Sakura, or my years as genin interest you"

"I don't care about your dates with Sakura and I know about your genin years, I was your teammate after all. But your child hood is something I'd gladly see" I really was curious about his years as a child. I just knew that it was harsh but I didn't really know about his early years.

"But…"

"I'm not gonna beg you" I threatened him

"Okay I guess" he said defeated

He turned and opened the door. We both entered the 'room' and looked around. In the beginning everything was grey-black like the door and I couldn't see a thing, not even Naruto. Then images started to appear around us forming a circle. They were many, each of them picturing an event from his childhood.

I saw a five-year-old Naruto walking through the streets of Konoha. The had already sunk but it was not very late. He had his usual grin plastered on his face and his blue eyes shone. The villagers glared at him but he ignored them. Suddenly he winced in pain when a stone hit him on his back. He turned to see who the invader was and faced two men. They were drunk, they held bottles of beer or sake, I couldn't see the tickets well but they were certainly alcoholic.

"Hey demon brat!" one of them shout at Naruto "it's about time you pay already"

Fear passed through the eyes of little Naruto. He looked at them for a brief moment and started to run. They followed him and even though, they were drunk, they could run fast. Naruto soon got tired and they started to get closer. Then they reached a dead end. There was nowhere to go for Naruto. The two men attacked him. He fought back but they were stronger, much stronger. Naruto collapsed from the many hits and fall on the ground. The two men didn't stop however. They kept kicking him despite the screams and the tears of the small boy. Villagers passed near the alley but when they saw who the men were beating, they just continued their walk.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Nobody cared! He was only five years old for Kami's sake yet they treated him like a monster. After a while the two men, satisfied with the amount of blood flowing from his wounds, turned and left him there crying till losing consciousness.

I turned my attention to other images and I clenched my fists when I saw that all of them were similar. One of them showed Naruto being kicked out of a restaurant. Next to it parents drugged their children from the park because Naruto was there and they didn't want their children playing with him.

Then I saw him arriving to a vandalized apartment which I recognized as his. The windows were broken and glass laid on the floor. Part of it was burnt and smoke arose from a window indicating that the fire might not ceased yet. Inside and outside on the walls, words were written with red paint such as 'Die demon' or 'Death to the monster'. Naruto who seemed to be 8 or 9 years old just sighed and went inside to to try to clean the place.

On another image I saw him being beaten up by some older kids this time and above it, him lying on a hospital bed all bandaged up, the nurses shooting death glares at him and treating him 'well' because the third Hokage was there.

My palms were now bleeding because of the power I was using clenching my fists and my nails dug in my skin. My jaw was tightly locked as I watched Naruto being tortured by the merciless villagers of Konoha.

"Why?" I managed to say

"Hm? Why what? He asked confused

"Why do you want to protect them, to be their Hokage after all they've done to you?" I asked trembling with anger

"Because" he said calmly "I am on of them"

My eyes widened by the shock. His answer caught me off guard. I could understand him at all.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not their fault they hate me. It's in human nature to be afraid of the unknown. People don't know me as Naruto, they think I'm Kyubi. Kyubi is a threat for them. They just want to protect themselves and their children"

"But they didn't give you a chance to show them yourself"

"Would you Sasuke?"

"Of course I would!"

"You are saying that now, but you are not putting yourself at their place. If you were raised the way they were you would hate me too. I think I would do the same if I were them"

"They hurt you" I said bitterly

"I don't blame them. They did exactly what everyman would do in there position. My dream to become Hokage…my only purpose is to prove them that I'm not a demon and change the people of the village to accept different people. I want to follow the steps of my father and become a strong ninja who protects his village and his comrades"

"Your father? You never told me about your father. I thought you didn't know who he was."

"I didn't. I found out during the last two years."

"Do I know him?"

"Of course. My father was Kazama Arashi known as the Fourth Hokage"

For some reason I wasn't very surprised. I kinda expected someone important. When he said who his father was I remembered of the Fourth Hokage I had seen years ago. The similarity was obvious, their hair, their eyes…

"How did you find out?"

"He told me"

"Who? Kyubi?"

"No, dad"

"How?"

"It was something like this place, he somehow came while I was sleeping, in my dreams"

"And he just popped and told you 'Hey Naruto I'm your father'?"

Naruto just sweatdropped with that comment. Why was I so soft when I was with him? I acted this way only when he was around.

"No" he said "I think its better to show you. We are in my memories aren't we?"

I caught a glimpse of a bleeding Naruto before everything turned grey-black again. Then a white light appeared just like outside of the door.

"This is going to be exactly as I saw it, okay?"

"Hn"

Two young fair men with blue eyes appeared in front of us. The first was Naruto and the second his dad I assumed. I watched the second man as I was waiting to listen to his words. His eyes held pain, sadness and regret. But he wore a smile, maybe because he was able to talk to his son for the first time.

"Hi…you must be wondering who I am and how the heck I appeared in here" he paused for a moment "Well…I am Kazama Arashi…the Fourth Hokage" he seamed very anxious and spoke slowly.

"You can't be serious" Naruto said astonished.

"Em…yes…I am, I'm here to apologize to you"

"Apologize?"

"Yes, aren't you mad at me?" he asked. I guess he thought that Naruto would blame him for sealing Kyubi in him.

"For what?"

"For sealing Kyubi in you, what else?"

"Oh…that…no I'm not angry with you, I'm just curious about the reasons. Why me?"

"Because…because you are…my son"

"WHAT?" I was sure my ears would bleed by the power of his voice

"Em…yes…you…see…"

"Why didn't anyone tell me earlier?"

"Cause I asked them not to"

"Why?"

"I wanted you to live as normal as possible. Being the son of the Fourth Hokage you can't have a normal life"

"Yeah, like I had a normal life…"

"I'm sorry, this isn't how I wanted it to be. It seems that almost no one followed my last wish…"

"Which was?"

"To treat to you as a hero. Cause you are a hero. The one you protects the whole village every single day. I'm sorry they treat you otherwise"

"Don't be…"

"Huh?" Arashi asked confused

"My life was hard and sometimes I thought I wouldn't make it through. I felt many times like in hell but if I didn't have such a life, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I like myself, I wouldn't want to be different. I am proud of me…"

"I'm proud of you too my son…you can't imagine how much. I'm happy because of you, because you understand that I couldn't seal the demon in any other child"

"Thanks…dad"

Both of them were barely able to hold their tears back

"I wish I could stay longer, but I have to go."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?"

"How did mom look?"

He smiled widely "He was the most beautiful woman in the world. Her hair was the lightest brown, almost blonde and her eyes shone green-blue like the sea."

"I wish I could meet her, what happened to her?"

"Yeah, I wish that too. Unfortunately she died on birth" he answered sadly. Suddenly the image of the Hokage waved a little.

"I think this the end of our meeting"

"Can I ask you one last thing?"

"What?"

"Can I touch you?"

Silently, Arashi moved forward and they clasped their hands together. They stare each other for a few moments and then father and son embraced each other tightly. The image of Arashi trembled again.

"Goodbye my son" he whispered and disappeared. Naruto stood there for a few seconds.

"Goodbye dad" then the image of him fainted too.

I turned to look at Naruto next to me and noticed that his eyes were wet. I realized then that in only a few minutes? Hours? I learned more about Naruto than in my whole life.

Naruto found his compromise and spoke once again.

"Can we see the day Kyubi was sealed in me?" he asked

He was still touched by the image of his meeting with his father, so it was natural of him to want to see his father again. But it wasn't possible for him to remember the day Kyubi was sealed inside of him. Would we have to go to Kyubi's door?

Naruto seemed to read my mind though

"Don't worry. Kyubi has already showed me that day so it is in my memories too."

I nodded and an image formed in front of us.

It was the forest right next to Konoha, towards east. It was different than today however. Many trees were burnt or destroyed. Smoke arose from different places. Red covered the area, fire, blood and the energy of Kyubi. Ninjas laid on the ground. Fortunately I was a person I had seen many things in my life or I wouldn't be able to keep the food in my stomach. The sight was the least to say disgusting. Most of them were ripped by the claws of the demon. Brains and various organs were out of their bodies.

Kyubi was standing tall and fearsome and killed anyone who went close to him. His roar covered the screams of the people. Then my eyes caught something yellow and silver moving fast towards the great beast. I recognized Kakashi immediately. Nobody else had silver hair and wore a mask. His was young just a teenager. He was holding Naruto and run with a lighting speed. I saw him screaming something but I didn't understand what because of Kyubi. He screamed again and I understood he was saying the word 'sensei'.

Then I noticed Arashi. He was waiting for him. When he got closer, Arashi summoned a large frog. He and Kakashi leapt on the back of him. They had a brief conversation and luckily because of my Sharigan, I was able to read their lips. Apparently Kakashi was asking his sensei if there was any other way. The answer was negative though and the Hokage just told him it was his duty. Kakashi said nothing more, he just hold the child and waited for his teacher to seal the demon. Arashi did a complex series of hand seals and a ghost-like 'man' appeared. The man went towards the deamon and somehow lifted him and turned him to energy. Then a blue fire appeared on his right hand and he put it on the stomach of the baby Naruto. Naruto started crying and his screams became louder when the energy to him and got inside him througfh his mouth.

Then silence, everything stopped. Only the crying of Naruto and the fire echoed in the forest. I saw the Fourth Hokage slowly falling and noticed that all the people had their attention turned on him. He just whispered

"Goodbye Kakashi, take a good care of him. Goodbye Naruto, my son. Sayonara"

And he fall with his back on the back of the frog.

The image started to faint and I looked again at Naruto next to me. This time he let his tears flow freely on his face. We stood silently for some time until his tears stopped.

"I think, it's time to move on and watch something else, don't you think?" he said with a hoarse voice.

I watched for a little longer and wondered what else I would learn through his memories that day. A few seconds later I knew exactly what I wanted to see. Something I wanted to know about it for a lond time. Something that burnt me inside.

"Naruto, show me how you killed my brother"…

**A/N: **Well what do you think? Review and tell me. Ja ne...


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **I'm really sorry for not updating for so long but I was out of town for some days, then I had to read Harry Potter and I spent some time on looking for information about universities and stuff like that, not to mention that it's too hot and I prefer spending my time swimming…anyway I'm drabbling over here and I doubt anyone cares about these so on with the story…

**Disclaimer: **Naruto is not mine

**Chapter 9**

The sun barely pierced through the grey clouds that started to cover the sky. Each passing minute, the clouds came closer... strong wind blew forming a trail of leafs in its path. The trees danced wildly along with the air and rain relieved the dry ground as fall succeeded the hot summer.

Two lone figures stood in the heart of the forest, facing each other

"We are meeting again"

"Not a meeting I was looking forward to"

"It was inevitable"

"Yeah, you still want my buddy right?" he said patting his abdomen

"Obviously"

"Well, you won't get him Itachi'

"We'll see about that Naruto, we'll see"

And the fight began...

Naruto ran forward but faced a rain of fire. He put chakra to his feet in order to avoid them. He past the last fireball and saw that his opponent was ahead of him, he tried to punch him but Itachi dug and swiped his right leg, only to find air since Naruto jumped. Then the blond landed a vertical kick which was blocked by the left arm of the raven man. Itachi took a kunai with his right hand and moved his arm to stab Naruto. Naruto though, at the last second, managed to jump backwards and landed easily a few feet away from Itachi.

Their eyes locked for a moment, red with blue. Naruto broke the connection first and ran towards Itachi again. He stopped though when he saw his feet on fire. Red flames made their way upwards fast.

"What the…when did he…"

He immediately took some shuriken and threw them to Itachi. When the shuriken reached though, a black hole formed on his stomach and the shuriken passed through him. Then the hole closed again leaving him unharmed.

"Darn, I'm trapped in a genjutsu. I shouldn't see him in his eyes" said Naruto angrily

The fire now was almost up to his chest. The forest around him started to change colors. Blue, red, green, yellow…and shapes…trees tried to crab him with their branches and some of them even moved using their rods as feet. The surfaces of the rocks now looked like his teammates and along Itachi who now walked towards him talked

"What are you going to do now Naruto-kun?"

"I'm gonna leave this place" he shouted

He closed his eyes and concentrated. He remembered the lessons of Jiraya, so long ago.

"It didn't work last time" the Sharigan user said calmly

"I'm stronger than last time" he simply stated, eyes still closed

He stopped the flow of his chakra and then resumed it, giving it some boost with Kyubi's chakra. With relief written on all of his face, he saw the forest returning to his original form.

"Good job Naruto. Will you be able to stop a stronger one though?"

"I won't have to because I won't let you trap me in another one"

"And how are you planning to do that?"

"You'll see" answered Naruto smirking

He closed his eyes again. For a few seconds nothing happened. Then wind came out of his body and slowly formed a wind barrier around him at the shape of his body.

"Well what do you think? Nice use of chakra manipulation huh?"

"Impressive" Itachi answered trying to mask his surprise. "But how will you stop my genjutsu?"

"The user of the genjutsu is actually using his chakra to control the flow of his opponent'e energy. But with my wind barrier it's impossible for someone to distract my flow"

"I thought you couldn't use genjutsus"

"I can't so what?"

"It must be difficult for someone to find a way to stop genjutsu if he can't do himself"

"Kakashi-sensei can though and he is very smart too. We thought this together"

"This explains much"

"Let's see you now" Naruto said and started his attacks again.

This time he was much faster then before, his attacks almost impossible to avoid or block. This didn't go unnoticed by Itachi who was barely keeping up and that due to his Sharigan. Obviously Naruto saw the questioning look on Itachi's face because he asked

"What's wrong Itachi?" with a mocking tone

Itachi tried a genjutsu as an answer but it was blocked by Naruto's barrier. His pride told him not to do it but his curiosity was stronger as it seemed so he asked Naruto why he was faster.

"I said that I use the air to protect me from genjutsu but I never said that it doesn't have any other uses"

"Like what?"

"Like giving it an aerodynamic shape which enables me to move faster"

"And what other 'benefits' does it have?"

"Oh…these are for me to know and for you to find out" he said continuing his little mocking game

After a while Itachi still had difficulty on stopping Naruto's punches or kicks and landing some of his own. Blood flowed from both of his nosewrills and from some wounds on his body. His cloths were ripped in several places and he was breathing fastly.

On the other hand, Naruto was in a much better shape. He was from different parts of his body too but the blood was less and though his breathing was fast and sharp too it wasn't even close to Itachi's breathing.

Seeing this, Itachi decided it was time for the big weapons. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again the three black slits were replaced with three wavy lines this time connected with the circle in the middle.

"Let's see you blocking this" he said

"Bring it on"

"Tsukoyomi" Itachi whispered

Naruto felt pressure on his wind barrier and it felt as though something was coming through it. So he put some more chakra and fortunately for him, he felt the 'thing' to stop moving. He used some more energy and he destroyed it completely much to his relief.

Itachi couldn't believe his eyes. It was the first time in his whole life that anyone had stopped his Tsukoyiomi. And the one who did it was someone younger and less experienced. Usually he was a man who showed no emotion but he made an exception this time. Astonishment was written on all over his face.

The jinchuuruki watched him with amusement. His defence was worthy the hours of training he had spent with Kakashi and felt lucky for having him as a teacher.

The features of Itachi changed though. Now he showed signs of bitterness and anger. Anger for being outmatched by someone else.

It was time to put an end to that fight. He calmed himself and then he locked his eyes with Naruto's.

"Amaterasu" he whispered

Naruto felt again high pressure to his barrier. It was moving closer and closer to his body. He used, like before, more energy. The 'thing' stopped for a moment and it seemed to move away. But Itachi wouldn't give up so easil6y. he too used more energy and the pressure was higher than before. Naruto tried to block it but his wind barrier proved not to be strong enough.

The blond man felt a weird sensation enveloping him and then everything became black. He opened his eyes but he appeared to be somewhere else. He looked confused around him and realized he was back at Konoha. Everything was different though. The whole village was ruined. Smoke arose from several places and dead bodies were scattered all around him. He tried to move but he found out he couldn't. he was tied on a cross and couldn't brake the ropes that held him there.

He tried to cut the ropes but his efforts were wasted. He looked up and saw his friends heading towards him. They formed a semi circle in front of him and looked at him with a disgusted look on their faces. Even Sasuke was there.

"You killed them, you killed them all!" Sakura yelled at him

"I didn't to anything" Naruto plead them

"It's time for you to pay" Kiba said ignoring his words completely.

There faces were twisted and had a maniac smile on them. Then they all took kunai and shuriken and started to stab him mercilessly. Naruto let out an agonizing scream. It wasn't only the physical pain but also the fact that his friends were doing it. He was covered with blood and felt dizzy from the blood loss and the pain. Soon he stopped screaming because he didn't have the strength to do so. With much effort he managed to look up and saw Itachi standing behind them looking at him smirking. He studied his eyes and found satisfaction in them. His head felt heavy though so he turned his gaze down once again.

"Don't worry, there are only 70 hours left" the sharigan user said with a sadistic smile

Naruto didn't seem to hear him though. The pain was unbearable, his head was heavy and he couldn't focus his eyes on one thing. He felt consciousness leaving him…but he couldn't die, he couldn't give up. He had to win. But how? And then he remembered…Kyubi…since Itachi wanted him so much, why not giving him a doze of him?

He concentrated, the best he could in his state and appeared in the familiar dark path that led to Kyubi. He walked for a while until he reached his cage.

"long time no see" Naruto said

"More like years no see" Kyubi growled

"Yeah" Naruto said scratching the back of his head

"What do you want"

"I need your help, your energy"

"I thought you decided some years ago that you wouldn't use my power again"

"I know, but my power is not enough against Amaterasu"

"Oh…a Sharigan user, an Uchiha and he has the Mankengyou Sharigan. Interesting"

"So will you help me? I don't think I can taek much more of this"

"It will be fun and it's been a long time since I've been out there…Okay, I'll do it"

"Thanks" with that, Naruto closed his eyes again and returned to Konoha or whatever remained from it.

The pain came with too. He bit his lip trying not to scream and then…it stopped. The pain ceased, the chakra of Kyubi flowed through his veins, his eyes became crimson and their shape turned to a more fox-like shape. Two long gangs grew in his mouth along with long nails. His whisker marks became thicker and his hair wilder. Lastly two ears of energy formed on his head and slowly but steadily tails of energy started to form behind him. The first tail came and then a second followed.

He cut the ropes that held him still and walked towards Itachi. The others tried to stop him but the third tail came and Naruto without even blinking made them disappear. He locked his eyes with Itachi again and released more energy. The 'realm' they were in started to tremble. Itachi forced more chakra and the area seemed to be steady again. But Naruto wouldn't let it. He let a growl that could freeze your blood and raised his arms to his sides. A fourth tail formed…the 'realm' shook again and Itachi couldn't control it. Everyting became black for a moment and then the 'real' exploded.

Naruto and Itachi appeared to the real world and were both of then thrown backwards due to the power of the explosion. Then they both stood up and faced each other. Naruto still used Kyubi's energy. The fourth tail was out and naruto couldn't control it. His body was not strong enough and it bled from many spots. He was all bloody and he felt his flesh burning by the chakra. He screamed again as the fifth tail came out. He looked at his enemy again and before Itachi could respond, Naruto attacked. The raven man even with the help of Sharigan was not able to keep up with him. He could only see a red blur moving around. The next thing he saw was naruto standing in front of him. He felt pain at his chest and then at all his body. He couldn't see the punches and the kicks…just pain all over him. It didn't last long but it hur, it hurt like hell. With a last punch to his face, Naruto send him flying until he crushed to a nearby tree.

Itachi was no problem for the demon vessel anymore. He was all beaten up and even though he had some chakra left he was no match for him. The real problem now was Kyubi who continued to share his energy with Naruto enjoying every second of it.

A sixth tail started to take shape and Naruto was screaming like no tomorrow. Now you couldn't see any skin, just blood, blood flowing from uncountable wounds, blood the color of his eyes. His screams stopped only because of his need for air; after a deep breath he resumed his piercing screaming trying to find a way to cease the pain. He fell to his knees and caught his head with both of his hands. Energy radiated from his body destroying the area around him. Beams of energy destroyed trees, rocks…everything in their path. Itachi watched helpless not knowing what to do. Fear appeared in his eyes, something that only a few people had the chance to see in his whole life.

Then the seventh tail came and the eighth followed. Naruto's throat was now dry. He didn't have the power to scream. He fell to the ground and curled into a ball. Energy still came out of him and he couldn't control it. Someone could tell he was dead except his eyes were tight shut and his teeth gritted hard because of the pain. His fingers were curled in a fist and from time to time his body had spasms from the pain.

He growled when a ninth tail started to appear but he couldn't do anything.

"Now you are mine" he heard Kyubi saying.

His head became heavier, if that was possible and felt Kyubi taking over his body. Was that the end? Would he die there? And what about the demon? He would use his body for revenge. He knew that Kyubi wanted to destroy Konoha as a punishment for sealing him in him. Could he let him? Memories came to his mind. Memories of his friends, of the people who lived in Konoha. They were going to die because of him, because he wasn't strong enough. No, he couldn't die there, he had some promises to keep too. He couldn't let him have his body. That body was his and only his, one of the only things that really belonged to his…he couldn't …no he wouldn't surrender to him.

He felt a trickle of energy somewhere in him. The energy grew stronger just like his will. He forced his chakra to fight Kyubi's. The demon understood what he was doing and tried to stop him. But it was too late. Naruo with a new surge of energy pulled Kyubi back to his cage. Kyubi was trapped once again…

However an irreparable damage to the seal was made. His control over Kyubi wouldn't be the same anymore. The great demon would have more influence on him and he had to resist to him harder from now on. At least he managed to retrain him and he would to continue to do so with his power, his…

He slowly stood up, his legs shook from exhaustion but he managed to hold on them. He took some deep breaths and collected himself. Fortunately Kyubi's abilities were still on effect, so his wounds were healed at a high rate and after a couple of minutes not a single scratch was on his body.

Itachi was shocked by the events displayed in front of him. He leaned on a tree and watched Naruto trying to stay on his legs. He then watched with interest his wounds disappearing and for once he felt jealous of him. He had gushes everywhere and was sure that if help didn't arrive soon he wouldn't make it alive. But help wouldn't come and he knew it. There were only a few Akatsuki left and probably they were being slaughtered at the very moment. He turned his attention back to Naruto and noticed that his breathing slower now. then realization hit him. Naruto would recover soon with the help of the demon. He on the other hand had no means of recovery. So if he waited any longer Naruto would just recover more. Not a good idea…he didn't have much chakra but he didn't have any other choice either…he had to attack.

He ran forward as fast as he could, trying to attack Naruto by surprise. The demon vessel though was waiting for him before he could understand what was going on he couldn't move a muscle.

"You are in my range"

"…" Itachi couldn't even open his mouth.

He was trapped in a sphere that had suddenly appeared around Naruto. It was like his wind barrier but instead of keeping something outside, it kept it trapped inside.

Fear crept to his eyes when he saw a strong wind forming inside the barrier. He couldn't move though and he only managed to close his eyes tight and gasp when he felt tens, hundreds, thousands deep scratches on his body. Even more blood flowed from his wounds and slowly made its way to the ground. His vision was blurred and he seemed to find it difficult to focus somewhere in particular. He tried hard to concentrate his eyes on Naruo and much to his dismay, he just saw his death. This was the end…his end. Naruto used the last bit of his strength to make a last rasengan which he stabbed right on Itachi's chest. His hand passed through Uchiha's body and came out from his back. Itachi coughed some blood and slowly looked down to see Naruto's arm dug in his chest. Then he raised his eyes and looked in his eyes and found out that Naruto was watching him too. It was the first time the blond had seen him without hi Sharigan activated. Naruto pulled his arm back carefully as not to hurt him more. Itachi bit his down lip in order nto to scream and closed his eyes tightly. Only when his whole arm was out he opened his eyes again. Naruto moved a few steps backwards and released him.

Itachi fall down with a thud. He tried to stand up again but there was no use. He just stared at the sky welcoming the first drop of rain and breathed heavily

"I'm…s…so…rry" he managed to breath and he said no more…

The images started to tremble and then they disappeared. None of us spoke for a minute or two. I looked at Naruto again but I didn't know what to do next. He looked me too and I saw that his eyes were wet. Was Naruto always so sensitive?

"I'm sorry" he said "I didn't-"

"Never mind" I cut him "I don't mind" and for some reason it was the truth

"Thanks Sasuke"

"Whatever, just stop sulking"

"okay"

"The…thing, with…Kyubi over there. Is that the reason for not merging properly with him?"

"Yes, I think it"

Another awkward silence followed and both of us looked were the images with naruto's and Itachi's fight were before.

"Don't worry you are going to make it through. You still are a great ninja. I'll help you" that was probably the first time in my life that I had offered my help to someone and that only for Naruto, no one else.

"I wish that was true" I notices for one more time the wetness of his eyes

"Don't worry, I won't le them capture mwe again and I'll help you suppress him"

"I don't think I'll be able to hold him much longer Sasuke"

"What do you mean? How long can you exactly hold him Naruo?" I felt a comp on my stomach

"I don't even know if I'll make the night…"

That was an under-waist hit. I couldn't believe his words. But the sadness and the desperation in his voice…

I locked my eyes with him and gulped "So you are back to Konoka to-"

"say goodbye…"

**A/N:** well what do you think? It is like I imagined it but it could be worse. Any way till next time…


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